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Chirac, at a news conference later, praised Bush for getting Congress to pass a $15 billion package to combat AIDS in the developing world.
"Bush took a decision in this area that I would not hesitate to call historic," Chirac said. He said France would triple its AIDS spending, to about $179 million, and European Union (news - web sites) officials said the 15 member nations are expected to commit about $1.2 billion in new funds at a summit in Greece later this month.
Largely peaceful demonstrations against the summit deteriorated into battles between riot police and protestors that continued into early Monday. For more than nine hours, police used rubber pellets, tear gas and water cannons against several thousand militants who rampaged through the Swiss city of Geneva, across the lake from the meeting.
The protesters looted gas stations, pharmacies and other shops, leaving downtown Geneva in a state of chaos. Only a handful of stores were left intact — mainly those which had anti-G-8 or anti-war banners in their windows. Even the bulletproof windows of big banks were smashed.
Inside the summit, there was a concerted effort to get beyond Iraq.
"Everybody talked positively. Nobody talked about the past," said Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, attending his 10th and final summit. "Everybody was concentrating on creating a mood of solidarity."
Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said that even just one hour into the summit, "the atmosphere was much better. At the end of the day, the atmosphere was quite good."
White House officials suggested Bush was taking a wait-and-see approach about his relationship with Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, another ardent war foe.
It was a different matter, though, with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who also opposed the U.S.-led drive to depose Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) but, in Washington's view, was not confrontational about it.
Putin and Bush held a reconciliation meeting earlier Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia, where they celebrated ratification of a major nuclear arms agreement and proclaimed their close friendship. "Strange as it may sound," Putin said, the United States and Russia have even strengthened ties — a point that Bush was happy to echo.
"We will show the world that friends can disagree, move beyond disagreement and work in a very constructive and important way to maintain the peace," Bush said.
The annual summit of industrialized nations brought together the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia at a spa on the banks of Lake Geneva. They were joined on the opening day by leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Africa and developing countries such as China, India and Mexico — a move intended in part to answer the criticism of anti-globalization protesters that the G-8 was a rich country's club insensitive to the needs of poorer countries.
Chirac's spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna, said the leaders were not avoiding talking about Iraq but were focusing on the challenge of rebuilding Iraq rather than the fractious [next page]