QUEBEC CITY, CANADA - The world's French-speaking nations, rich and poor, at a summit seized by global financial woes called for multilateral crisis talks, agreed to cut CO2 emissions and defend the French language.

"It was the first north-south forum to take into account, to discuss what is actually going on in the world amid the global financial meltdown," said co-host Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

"As well, it is the first to look at and anticipate its impact on poorer nations of the southern hemisphere," he said.

The 70-member Francophonie in its final declaration supported French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for talks to discuss a revamp of the banking system, with Group of Seven industrialized nations and Russia, as well as China, India, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, the secretary general of the United Nations, and the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"Persuaded that no country is safe from the turmoil that has shaken world credit markets and that the unrest demands an urgent and coordinated response, we commit to support an international summit on this question," it said.

On Saturday, Sarkozy, US President George W. Bush, and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso agreed at Bush's Maryland retreat on a series of summits beginning after the November 4 presidential election.

But there were already signs of different visions for the summits, with European leaders pushing for a radical overhaul of the whole financial architecture while Bush said the foundations must be preserved.

The crisis talks, said the Francophonie, must keep in mind the needs of developing nations.

And they must not undermine major UN efforts to eradicate poverty, fight against the effects of climate change and address a food crisis, urged member heads of state and UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, also co-host of the summit, announced 100 million dollars in aid for "small, insular and vulnerable" countries to help deal with climate change.

On financial woes, he said: "One thing we shouldn't do is to allow an unregulated banking system spiral to collapse."

"But we also should not slam our doors to trade. If we start slamming our doors ... we will all pay a very big price for that."

"For the moment, I believe it is primarily a crisis that affects developed nations, nations that set up a financial system that has slipped from their control," commented Blaise Compaore, president of Burkina Faso.

Poorer countries do not have access to the financial markets, and so the meltdown has had no direct effect on them, he explained.

"But since these (developed) countries are our economic partners, of course we're concerned about its possible impact on our economies," Compaore said.

"If the global economic slowdown persists, we'll certainly face difficulties selling our natural resources at a good price and northern nations are sure to become more protectionist, particularly in the agricultural sector," he warned.

Many southern hemisphere nations are reliant on commodities exports, delegates noted, and are bracing for a jolt from the recent plunge in metals and other natural resources prices.

At its close, the Francophonie summit reaffirmed its backing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, and pledged to help cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.

As well, it promised a "concerted francophone position" for upcoming climate change conferences in Poznan in December and Copenhagen in 2009.

Canada and its province Quebec had clashed over this proposal, with France and Quebec calling for action on climate change, while Canada preferred a broader focus on the environment, according to sources.

In the end, they agreed to "cooperate so that all of our countries can develop national policies to meet a common objective of reducing by at least 50 percent global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050..."

Omar Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon in west central Africa, said on behalf of the delegates, they were also preoccupied with access to clean drinking water, water for agriculture, and management of cross-border waters.

They put forth strategies to preserve the Congo Basin forest, the world's second largest tropical forest, and on biodiversity.

And, they promised to defend the French language in a "contemporary global context and to keep in mind regional diversity," and increase French language classes.

Madagascar will host next summit in 2010, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2012.