L'AQUILA, ITALY

An economic communique from the Group of Eight industrial countries appears to fly in the face of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's admonition to let current stimulus funding do its work before committing more to combat the global recession.

But the communique -- which Canadian officials said is virtually final -- is so couched in bureaucratic jargon that it can be interpreted multiple ways.

And that appears symptomatic of a sprawling G8 summit that has taken on a host of issues and added more than 20 non-member countries to its roster.

"We note some signs of stabilization in our economies and we believe that the turnaround will be reinforced as our (stimulus) measures reach their full effect,'' said the document, released yesterday following an economic session by the G8 leaders.

However, the document then cautions of continued economic instability.

"We will take, individually and collectively, the necessary steps to return the global economy to a strong, stable and sustainable growth path, including continuing to provide macroeconomic stimulus.''

Harper entered yesterday's opening session saying he sees no need for additional global spending, but that international leaders should instead focus on getting currently committed dollars out the door.

"My own thought is before there's talk of additional stimulus, I would urge all leaders to focus first on making sure the stimulus that's announced actually gets delivered,'' Harper said.

He ended the day by cautioning, "We don't yet have a true recovery. But we have stability and we see some positive signs. It's necessary that we stick with the program.''

The real spade work on the global economic recovery began with the larger G20 leaders' summit this spring and will continue with a followup G20 meeting this fall in Pittsburgh.

It's a similar story on climate change, the other headline issue at this three-day confab.

A post-2012 agreement on curbing greenhouse-gas emissions will be the subject of more talks here today. But Canada says the real negotiations are taking place at the United Nations level, leading up to a planned December conference in Copenhagen.

Nonetheless, the leaders -- including Harper -- heralded an agreement with developing countries that average global temperatures shouldn't increase by more than two degrees Celsius as a significant new acknowledgment in the fight against global warming.

The United States and other G8 leaders agreed to the goal of a temperature cap after failing to press developing countries to approve a more far-reaching goal of reducing heat-trapping carbon emissions by 2050.

Climate-change experts nevertheless said the acknowledgment from both the G8 and a 17-member group of developing nations was an important step since it now implies that countries actually have to do something to prevent temperatures from increasing.

Harper said developing nations have a deep vested interest in joining a new climate change regime. "The emerging economies will be hit as hard if not harder by climate change as anyone,'' Harper said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the temperature goal a "historic agreement'' and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was "a clear step forward.''

"After a long struggle, all of the G8 nations have finally accepted the two-degree goal,'' Merkel told reporters. "From the United States of America to Japan and Europe, everyone will work on this goal.''

The text says there is a "broad scientific view'' that global temperatures "ought not to exceed two degrees Celsius'' from their pre-industrial levels.

Climate-change experts said such an acknowledgment is significant because the G8 has never pronounced on that temperature goal. Developing countries agreed in a provisional statement to the same phrasing.

Most scientists agree that even a slight increase in average temperatures would wreak havoc on farmers around the globe, as seasons shift, crops fail and storms and droughts ravage fields.

The agreement came little more than 24 hours after Canadian officials refused to state the government's position on the two-degrees target. Earlier yesterday, however, Canada issued a statement saying it accepts the goal.

"Until today, Canada had never taken a position on what level of global warming is too dangerous,'' said Clare Demerse of the Pembina Institute. "Thanks to pressure from its G8 peers, Canada has now accepted what scientists and leading countries have been saying for years.''

Local media reported more mild aftershocks in the Abruzzo region east of Rome yesterday, although they were not evident to visitors on the ground.

Harper was among several leaders who toured the devastated neighbourhoods. He committed $5 million to the building of a youth centre and gymnasium for the local university -- Italy's fourth largest.

"Your tears were our tears,'' he said at a small ceremony amid one heavily damaged reconstruction zone, where he was flanked by the appreciative mayor of L'Aquila.

The April 6 earthquake killed some 300 people and left about 60,000 homeless.