The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, host to the weekend's Genoa G8 summit of the world's most industrialised nations, yesterday expressed his regret that the "good work" done by world leaders had been overshadowed by the violence that marked the meeting.
One person was killed, more than 500 were injured and 132 arrested after street riots on Friday and Saturday which caused an estimated £40 million worth of damage. Even the early hours of yesterday morning were disturbed by violent scenes when police raided the headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum, an umbrella body that brought together the mainstream peaceful anti-globalisation protests.
Police claimed to have found iron bars, petrol bombs, knives and black overalls during the raid, which resulted in the arrest of 50 people whilst a further 66 were injured in scuffles.
Presenting a final summit report, Mr Berlusconi not only argued that the world's leaders had "worked well together" but he issued a defiant defence of the free market globalisation policies promoted by the G8, saying that they represented "the only system compatible with a democratic development of society".
Mr Berlusconi vigorously defended the G8's right, as democratically elected leaders, to convene for annual summits, conceding, however, that future summits would be scaled down.
Earlier, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Jean Chretien, next year's host, had announced that the 2002 G8 would take place in the relatively remote Rocky Mountains resort of Kananaskis, Alberta, and would be attended by much smaller delegations, probably 400 strong as opposed to the 2,000 delegates in Genoa.
On Saturday evening, Mr Chretien had referred to the issue of violent demonstrations, regretting that media coverage had focused "85 per cent on Genoa city and 15 per cent on the summit". He also suggested that the agenda covered by G8 summits had become too extensive and had moved too far away from the spirit of the original G7 meetings.
Earlier on Saturday, the summit leaders had issued a joint declaration prompted by the death of Carlo Giuliani, killed during riots on Friday evening: "We have always respected people's right to legitimate protest. We recognise and praise the role that peaceful protest and argument have played, for example in putting issues like debt relief on the international agenda. But we condemn firmly, and absolutely, the violence overflowing into anarchy of a small minority that we have seen at work here in Genoa and at recent international meetings.
"It is vitally important that democratically elected leaders legitimately representing millions of people can meet to discuss areas of common concern," they said.
The defiant tone pre-empted yesterday's final summit communique in which the world leaders renewed their commitment to making globalisation work, saying: "We are determined to make globalisation work for all our citizens and especially the world's poor. Drawing the poorest countries into the global economy is the surest way to address their fundamental aspirations."
Although the leaders' final statement touches on a host of issues dear to the anti-globalisation movement - debt relief, the fight against AIDS, global warming, a plan for Africa, food safety and education - it was nonetheless critically received by prominent movements on the anti-globalisation front.
CIDSE, an international network of 14 Catholic development agencies, criticised the G8 for their "failure to cancel the debts of poor countries". Greenpeace, the WWF and ECA Watch condemned the G8 plan for Africa, arguing that an emphasis on information and communication technologies missed the point, since one in three people on the planet live without access to electricity.
Oxfam claimed that the G8 had done "nothing meaningful about debt relief" whilst its $1.3 million Global Fund for AIDS, announced on Friday, "still needs much more resources".
While the G8 leaders made some fairly predictable moves on foreign policy - calling for the urgent implementation of the Mitchell Report in the Middle East, for political dialogue and an end to violence in Macedonia - the final document contains a partial admission of failure to make progress on global warming:
"We all firmly agree on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While there is currently disagreement on the Kyoto Protocol and its ratification, we are committed to working intensively together to meeting our common objective."
Despite this obvious difference of view between the US and its partners, Mr Berlusconi was quick to defend President Bush yesterday, saying: "He has suffered no loss of credibility here because of that [divergence on Kyoto]. His spontaneity and sincerity have been much appreciated. His "yes" is yes and his "no" is no."
Mr Bush and the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, were upbeat in their assessments, with Mr Bush claiming progress on solving problems of the poor and on the launching of new world trade talks while Mr Schroder expected the world economy to grow 3-4 per cent in 2001.