A growing chorus of world leaders pushed for a shift toward more pro-growth policies to help ease a European crisis that threatens to oust Greece from the euro zone and reverberate throughout the global economy.
World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing their economies, which are increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis.
Foreign ministers from the G8 group of rich countries condemned "in the strongest possible terms" North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology and called for more humanitarian aid to help civilians in Syria.
Leaders of the Group of Eight called on Yemen's president to quit, hoping to avert civil war flaring up in one part of the Arab world as they prepared to help new democracies flourish in another.
Group of Eight leaders promised US$20 billion in aid to Tunisia and Egypt today and held out the prospect of billions more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings.
Group of Eight finance chiefs gathered in southern France will pledge $38 billion in financing to Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan over 2011-13, a G8 source said.
G8 foreign ministers will warn Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi of the "dire consequences" of failing to respect the basic rights of his people but will stop short of recommending a no-fly zone, according to a draft communique.
Rebels advanced towards the birthplace of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, streaming west along the the main coastal road in pick-up trucks mounted with machineguns.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy hosts an opening lunch for the 24-hour annual summit in the northern seaside resort of Deauville. Bilateral meetings among the leaders of the G8 have already begun before lunch.