ADDIS ABABA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz on Wednesday sent a letter to the G8 leaders, urging them to reach an agreement in the Doha round table talks when they meet in Russia's St. Petersburg next week.

    Wolfowitz, who is on an official visit in Ethiopia, said the upcoming gathering of the G8 members and the planned outreach session with leaders from China, Brazil, India, South Africa, Mexico, the African Union and international organizations offers a unique opportunity to take advantage of to make urgently needed progress in the Doha trade talks.

    "We can work to lift millions from poverty, boost developing country income, improve global market access and reduce taxpayer and consumer costs for all, or allow the whole effort to collapse, with harm to everyone," he said.

    "The world's poorest people, the 1.2 billion living on less than one U.S. dollar a day, are counting on your good intentions being transformed into decisive actions, just as last year when your resolute political leadership launched the historic Multilateral Debt Relief initiative," said Wolfowitz, who arrived here late Monday for a three-day official visit.

    A pro-development result will yield gains for rich and poor alike, he said, adding that it would be an important step on the path to full liberalization which would eventually generate 300 billion dollars a year in additional production for the world's economy.

    Developing countries could gain by as much as 86 billion dollars alone, dwarfing annual bilateral assistance efforts, he said. Enditem