Speaking at the Francophonie summit in Quebec City, Canadian PM Stephen Harper said it was essential for developing nations to have access to free markets.

His French counterpart, Francois Fillon, also agreed that "nobody wants to put more protectionism in place".

On Saturday, the US agreed to host a summit to discuss economic reforms. The meeting, the first of a series, is to be held sometime after November's presidential election and will include developed and developing countries. However, it is not clear what the agenda will be and already differences are emerging.

At the end of the meeting, delegates for the 55 member states unanimously backed a call by President Sarkozy for reform of the capitalist system and for more discussions to tackle the global economic crisis.

But they also warned that no country was safe from the turmoil and that any response should not neglect the needs of the world's poorest nations.

The summit's final declaration also promised to draw up a united Francophone position on the environment in time for an international climate change conference in Poland in December.