ROME: President Hu Jintao arrived here on Sunday to start his official visit to Italy.

He will also attend the meeting between the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrial nations and five main developing economies from July 8-10.

Hu will meet Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today to discuss ways of enhancing their bilateral strategic partnership, which was initiated in 2004.

A deepening of trade relations is also high on the agenda and delegates from more than 200 Chinese firms have accompanied Hu to Italy.

They are expected to sign a series of economic and trade agreements with their Italian counterparts, ranging from environmental protection to telecommunications.

In L'Aquila, the leaders of the Group of Five (G5) nations -- China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico -- are scheduled to hold talks on Wednesday and issue a statement.

The G8 nations, meanwhile, the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Canada and Japan, will hold parallel talks on the same day. They are due to issue a statement on the situation of the world economy, climate change and development.

The G8 and G5, plus Egypt, who are Italy's guests, will hold joint talks and, for the first time, will release a joint statement expected to focus on finding ways of tackling the global financial crisis, pushing forward the Doha Round of world trade negotiations and narrowing the gap between developed and developing nations.

Leaders will also attend the meeting of the Major Economies Forum to tackle climate change and discuss grain safety, an important topic to developing countries.

"The G8 and G5 meetings provide a platform for the developed and developing countries to exchange views on important issues, and become even more significant in view of the financial crisis," said Shi Yinhong, an expert on international studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Without the participation of emerging nations, it is impossible to solve the world's big problems, he told China Daily.

The L'Aquila summit shows the fact the G8 alone is no longer enough to tackle global issues, said Professor Wang Fan, of the China Foreign Affairs University, Beijing.

The summit could be seen as an important arrangement of setting up a structured association by industrialized countries with big emerging economies, said Wang.

Hu's participation is an important step for China to take part in the globalization process, he added.

After his stay in Italy, Hu will visit Portugal from July 10 to 11.