G8 to agree to open trade and boost farm aid

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialised nations will agree to fight trade protectionism and mobilise billions over the next three years to boost agricultural investment in developing countries, according to a draft communique obtained by Reuters on Monday.

The G8 summit will convene in L'Aquila, Italy, on Wednesday through Friday in talks that will focus on food security, aid, climate change, trade and the world economy.

The draft did not include a figure for how much funding the G8 would commit for agriculture because it is still under discussion, although development sources said it could be between $10 billion and $15 billion (6.1 and 9.2 billion pounds).

The G8 includes the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.

According to the draft communique, leaders will agree that sustained and predictable funding, and increased targeted investments are urgently needed to enhance world food production.

"The tendency of decreasing ODA (official development assistance) and national financing to agriculture must be reversed," the draft said.

"We will aim at substantially increasing aid to agriculture and food security, including through multi-year resource commitments," it added.

They will also urge countries to remove food export restrictions or extraordinary taxes, especially for food bought for humanitarian purposes. They also called on countries to give advance notice before imposing any restrictions.