SAVANNAH, June 9: The Group of Eight summit on Wednesday approved a "Partnership for Progress and a Common Future" aimed at spreading reforms in the Middle East and North Africa. The leaders said that ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was important to reform but should not be an excuse for not pursuing them.

"Our support for reform in the region will go hand in hand with our support for a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict," the officials said in a joint statement.

The declaration also expressed the G8 nations' backing for "the fully sovereign Iraqi Interim Government as they seek to rebuild their nation" and pledged support for holding elections there no later than January 31, 2005.

The statement says that political reforms require the respect of human rights as well as respecting pluralism on the way to democracy and rule of law. US President George Bush had pushed hard for the initiative, which drew skeptical reactions from leaders in the region who warned that any effort to impose reforms from outside will fail. -AFP