Toyako, Japan - The Group of Eight (G8) summit opened Monday on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido with a meeting with African leaders, amid concerns that the world's richest nations may backtrack on a pledge to increase their aid to poor countries.

The working session in Toyako saw G8 leaders come face-to-face with the heads of government and state of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and African Union commission chief Jean Ping were also attending the meeting.

Oxfam International has been among a number of non-governmental organizations warning that G8 leaders may no longer reiterate their promise, made at a G8 meeting in
2005, to raise annual aid to developing countries by 50 billion dollars by 2010.

"If we don't see the numbers in the (summit's final) communique, it is a betrayal of the promise," said Oxfam's Max Lawson.

"We desperately need to see more money, and it has to be new money. The 50 billion (dollars) are absolutely critical," he added.

The European Union, which is represented at the summit by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, also urged the G8 to deliver on its previous commitments.

"We must step up our efforts ... There is no going back," Barroso said.

Barroso also announced that the EU executive was ready to provide an additional 1 billion euros (1.57 billion dollars) in aid to poor farmers in poor countries to help mitigate the impact of rising food prices.

The money, which would be spent on fertilizers and seeds and would come on top of previous EU aid totalling 800 million euros for the 2008/09 period, would be taken from unspent EU subsidies.

Spiralling oil and food prices, as well as the global economic slowdown and the need to fight climate change, are expected to dominate the three-day summit, which is taking place in the exclusive Hotel Windsor, a mountain resort overlooking Lake Toyako.

The summit was preceded by a number of bilateral meetings, including one between US President George W Bush and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev.

The G8 comprises the world's seven richest countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - plus Russia. (dpa)