Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in talks Tuesday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, relaunched his proposal to expand the Group of Eight (G8) to include emerging nations from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

To date, most members of the G8 - which includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - have reacted lukewarmly to the proposal. Berlusconi next year plays host at the group's scheduled summit in Italy.

But the Italian premier, speaking at a joint news conference in Rome, said he had Lula's full backing and pledged to continue pressing for the idea's acceptance.

Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Mexico should join an eventual "G14", or if, as he hoped, with Egypt's inclusion, a "G15," Berlusconi said.

Such emerging nations have "an important role to play in the world economy's governance," Berlusconi said.

Both Lula and Berlusconi referred to the meeting Saturday of the G20 - which brings together rich and poor nations - where proposals for regulations to avoid a repeat of the current global financial crisis will be put forward.

Barack Obama's election victory in the US, also came up as a topic, with Lula saying the president-elect "has the opportunity to change the history of the United States."

Berlusconi, a close friend of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said he advised Obama "not to continue the escalation of negative relations with Russia."

Worsening ties between Washington and Moscow posed more of a danger "than the situation in Iraq," the Italian premier suggested.

Berlusconi also again defended a quip he made in Moscow last week in which he described Obama as "suntanned" - words that critics condemned as a racial slur.

Those who had misinterpreted his comments were "imbeciles and miserable," Berlusconi said.

Tuesday's news conference also had its lighter moments.

Berlusconi, a former cruise ship crooner, praised Brazil's musical heritage. He also pointed out Kaka, Ronaldinho and Dida - several Brazilian stars of the Berlusconi-owned Italian football club AC Milan - who, sitting among reporters and officials, also attended the news conference.

Earlier Tuesday, Lula referred to the significance of Obama's election victory, when he spoke at a congress organized by Italy's main Catholic labour union grouping CISL.

Obama's victory "represents the first effect of the (current) global financial crisis," Lula said.

He then joked that it is "no mean feat to have a black president," in the same way as "seeing myself, a mechanical turner in that position, or an Indios in Bolivia, or a Catholic bishop as president in Paraguay," referring to Bolivian President Evo Morales and Paraguay's Fernando Lugo.

On Monday the left-wing Lula met Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, hugging him and calling him "dear comrade" - a reference to the Italian head of state's past as a Communist Party leader.

The Brazilian president is scheduled to meet Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Thursday. (dpa)