Finance ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial nations predicted on Saturday that global economic growth will be solid this year despite high oil prices.

"Overall global growth remains solid and this is expected to continue in 2006. Risks remain, including high and volatile energy prices," the finance ministers said in a statement issued at the end of a two-day meeting in the Russian capital.

The ministers urged further progress in "implementing policies that contribute to the gradual resolution of global imbalances and promote sustainable growth of the global economy."

They viewed "ambitious outcome" to the Doha Development Round by the end of 2006 as essential to enhancing growth and reducing poverty, the statement said.

To that end, the ministers urged all participants at the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting "to agree on a comprehensive package that achieves significant progress in agriculture, industrial products, services, intellectual property, and WTO trade rules," it said.

The G8 groups the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.

Russia, which took over its presidency at the start of the new year, will host a summit meeting of the group this summer in St. Petersburg.

Source: Xinhua