Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made India's G8 agenda clear when he departed for Italy. He had slammed the G8 nations for not being inclusive and cohesive enough.

On Thursday, at a meeting of the Group of 5 emerging economies - India, Brazil, South Africa, China and Mexico, he sent out a strong message to the Group of 8 leading industrialised countries or G8 - they must be more inclusive in their approach, if the fight against the global financial meltdown is to succeed.

He also said that even though the financial crisis originated in the developed countries, it is the developing countries that have borne the brunt of it.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had tough words for the G8 on climate change as well. He made it clear that the developed countries cannot perpetuate the poverty of developing countries through protectionist policies and expect them to address the problems of global warming and carbon emissions.

They must first put agriculture and food security on top of the international agenda by resisting protectionist pressure and lowering food prices.