Fifty-eight leaders from both sides of the Atlantic called for a stronger United Nations and more international dialogue, most without mentioning the United States' superpower role.

In a veiled criticism of US difficulties in Iraq, French President Jacques Chirac said: "Security problems that raise the use of force have become global and should be dealt with in a multilateral framework in order to be handled legitimately."

"One only has to see the threat that failed states pose to international stability, or the impasses that unilateral action lead to, to become convinced," he said.

"States cannot make do with ad hoc coalitions or alliances. They should organize the global village as a new political society."

No one country "can confront alone all the problems and threats" facing the world, said European Commission president Romano Prodi told the summit in Guadalajara.

For German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the response to global threats is to try "thinking more globally and treating problems more globally."

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, at his first summit since his election on a platform opposing Spain's role in Iraq, called for the meeting to concentrate on "fundamental themes" such as UN reform, respect for human rights and the fight against terrorism and crime.

Zapatero said that through the summit, "more than one billion people are taking part in a unique and historic process aiming to establish a more just, responsible world, living in peace."

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland, the current holder of the EU presidency, also took up the theme.

"I hold the firm view that an effective multilateral system, supported by strong international institutions, and having the UN at its center, is essential for the welfare of mankind."

Ahern said poverty, global warming and the spread of HIV/AIDS could only be tackled by nations working together. "And only by working together can terrorism and the conditions which can sometimes give rise to terrorism be addressed," he said.

Host President Vicente Fox of Mexico said Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean should have a stronger role in the United Nations, pointing out that their combined countries represented one-third of the seats in the UN General Assembly.

"They have a predominant role to play in the establishment of a new international order," he said.

The summit is the first since the EU grew from 15 to 25 nations.

The EU is looking to increase trade with Latin America, with which the United States is seeking to forge a Free Trade Area of the Americas stretching from Canada to Chile.

Stumbling blocks on the trade front are significant, however, reflecting the current deadlock in the World Trade Organization over farm subsidies.

Communist Cuban President Fidel Castro, who did not attend, sent a letter to the Mexican people claiming that in Guadalajara "everything was organized so that there can be no real free, open, public debate on vital issues of concern to our hemisphere and the world."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took off the gloves when referring to the United States, with which his country has had strained relations.

Washington, he said, "has said that it does not need friends to do what it wishes. That is craziness."

SPACE.WIRE