Given a valuable chance to make themselves heard, leaders representing the bulk of the world's developing nations pushed yesterday for more aid from the powerful and rich Group of Eight nations. The head of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, backed their calls, saying poorer nations need better access to global markets and more help reducing their crippling debts.

　　Annan told G-8 leaders "we are still far" from finding an extra US billion a year in aid he said is needed to fulfill broad development goals set out at a UN Millenium Summit in 2000.

　　"Formidable challenges lie ahead if we are to even come close to meeting the goals," Annan said. Developing countries "need more and better aid."

　　French President Jacques Chirac, this year's summit host, brought 11 leaders from developing countries, including China and India, to this year's summit in Evian, hoping to counter criticism from anti-globalization protesters that G-8 leaders are blind to the plight of less fortunate nations.

　　Chinese President Hu Jintao, meanwhile, made a package of proposals for world development and cooperation in an address to Evian meeting yesterday.

　　The proposals include the adoption of resolute steps to boost global economic growth, pursuance of peaceful co-existence and maintenance of diversity of the world, closer multilateral cooperation to promote the establishment of a new world economic order, and stronger support for enriching the South-North cooperation.

　　Hu said that further global economic growth requires concerted cooperation of the international community and that all countries should strive to tap potential for economic development and stimulate the inherent vitality of economic growth while strengthening the coordination of macroeconomic policies, stabilizing their financial markets and maintaining the normal tradesgroupsso as to create a favorable environment for global economic growth.

　　As developed countries are vitally influential in global and regional economic development, they should adopt practical and effective financial and monetary policies to carry on necessary structural reform, boost domestic demand, increase import and rebuild market confidence, insgroupsto play an active role in promoting global economic growth, he said.

　　At present, heightened attention should be paid particularly to the reform and improvement of international financial systems, insgroupsto strengthen the capacity of preventing and dealing with crises, he said.

　　Before the start of the talks among the G-8 countries and leaders from the 11 developing nations, Chirac met one-on-one with the Chinese president Hu Jintao.

　　Hu arrived at the French spa town of Evian by boat from Lausanne, a Swiss town on the other side of Lake Geneva. Chirac welcomed Hu at a red-carpeted jetty.

　　Hu also met with US President George W. Bush in the Frech town yesterday.

　　Chirac says he invited the leaders from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia to the first day of the Evian summit because they and G-8 nations share com-mon challenges. Chirac's spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna, called yesterday's meeting "exceptional."

　　The leaders arrived at the talks at a posh hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva. They came by boat and helicopter, thwarting protesters' hopes of barring their passage to the meeting site.

　　Thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators clashed with police near the summit, blocking highways and bridges, setting fire to barricades and drawing volleys of tear gas and rubber pellets from anti-riot agents.

　　The most violent protests early yesterday were in Lausanne. A hard core of demonstrators wearing black masks and other face coverings hurled rocks at police and a posh hotel and looted a gas station and a supermarket.

　　The morning protests kicked off a day of demonstrations. Two marches, one from Annemasse and one from Geneva, started before noon and converged near the Swiss side of the border before heading back to France.