SEA ISLAND, June 10: Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations are considering inviting China and India into their elite club, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday.

"It doesn't make much sense for us to talk about the economy of the future without two countries that are protagonists on the world stage," Mr Berlusconi told reporters after a first morning of talks at the annual G8 summit of world powers.

The G8 comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia. Mr Berlusconi said the leaders discussed the strength of the Chinese economy and the fact that it was not constrained by the sort of labour laws that exist in the West.

"But we said that we shouldn't be afraid of China because it is a huge consumer market and the idea was put forward to call China and India to join the G8, making it the G9 or G10," Mr Berlusconi said.

He did not say if any decision had been taken. The G8 took root in 1975 when French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing invited what was then the Group of Six to a fireside chat about the world economy in Rambouillet, near Paris.

Canada joined shortly afterwards and Russia was invited to take part in the discussions 10 years ago. However, Russia's membership still raises eyebrows in some quarters, with critics sighting the country's small economy and political problems. -Reuters