Developing countries' leaders meet at Lake Geneva

Heads of state of leading developing countries gathered in Switzerland today for a series of meetings on the sidelines of the summit of Group of Eight leading world powers.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was first to arrive at the plush Beau Rivage hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva, followed by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Others expected to arrive today included Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Hu Jintao of China, Vicente Fox of Mexico, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Also attending are President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was also expected, despite originally cancelling all his foreign trips following the earthquake in his country that killed more than 2,000 people.

The meetings are taking place under heavy security. An entire section of the Lausanne lakeshore was closed to the public, including a ferry dock from where the leaders will be shuttled across the lake tomorrow to the French resort of Evian-les-Bains where G8 leaders are meeting for three days.

The countries invited are the leading lights of NEPAD – the New Partnership for Africa’s Development – as well as major developing countries from other parts of the globe.

Among their aims is making sure that issues affecting poor countries - including Aids, debt and trade – are high on the agenda of the rich nations.

However, they are only joining the G8 leaders in Evian for a few hours of discussions.

Mexico’s Fox has said that his country should be permanently invited to the G8 meeting. “We’re the world’s ninth-largest economy and that would be only natural and logical,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times in London.

Up to 300,000 demonstrators are expected to protest against the summit, with events and marches planned in Lausanne over the weekend, as well as the main activities in Geneva and protests in the French city of Annemasse.