Chinese President Hu Jintao said in Gleneagles on Thursday that development is the most important task for the developing countries and he called for efforts to promote South-South cooperation and North-South dialogue.

"To developing countries, no task is greater than eliminating poverty, promoting development and delivering higher living standards to their population," Hu said at a meeting of leaders from China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico who gathered here for the Group of Eight (G8) plus five summit.

To seek development, the Chinese president said, developing countries should both rely on themselves and open up to the outside world for competition and cooperation.

Hu urged developing countries to stay united, saying conducting policy consultation and coordination and taking concerted actions on major international issues will help these countries safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

As developing countries have different national conditions, they have different views on certain issues, said the Chinese president.

The key to resolving whatever problems they have is to seek common ground on major issues while shelving minor differences, he added.

The Chinese president also called for promotion of South-South cooperation with innovative thinking, saying developing countries should expand channels of cooperation to become mutually complementary partners in win-win cooperation.

He also called for efforts to facilitate North-South dialogue by making the best of the existing advantages. "We should continue to urge developed countries through various channels to work still harder in ensuring a balanced development globally by earnestly making good their relevant commitments and promoting universal prosperity and common development," he said.

Hu also mentioned trade protectionism and climate change.

"In recent years, trade protectionism has raised its head" said Hu. Such mechanisms as G20 should continue to be used so as to intensify cooperation and give a strong boost to the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations at the organization's sixth Ministerial Meeting scheduled for late this year.

On climate change, Hu called for earnest observation of the targets and principles enshrined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol.

Leaders of the G8 and the five developing countries -- China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico -- were gathering here to discuss the global economy, climate change and other major world issues.

Source: Xinhua