Some African leaders and the UN chief on Monday called on the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations to fulfill their commitments on increasing aid to Africa as they met with the G8 leaders on the first day of the G8 summit in the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Group of Eight (G8) leaders pose for a photograph in front of bamboo for Japan's traditional star festival during a social event at the Windsor Hotel Toya in Toyako Town, Hokkaido, Japan, on Monday, July 7, 2008. From left to right, the leaders are Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. (Xinhua Photo)

Climate change, the world economy and African development figure high on the agenda of the Toyako summit of the G8, which groups Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

The G8 leaders talked with the presidents of Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and Ethiopia on aid to Africa and other issues Monday afternoon at the hilltop Windsor Hotel in Toyako, a resort town on the northern island of Hokkaido.

Africa, UN to G8: honor pledges

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who attended the G8 session with African leaders, urged the G8 nations to take concrete actions to honor their commitments made in 2005 of doubling aid to Africa by 2010.