French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a 40-billion-U.S.-dollar aid package for Egypt and Tunisia at the end of the G8 summit on Friday as the club of economic powers joined a race against time to shore up the gains of the Arab changes.

In a declaration after the summit, the leaders voiced their support to the Arab world, "We hear the voices of the citizens, support their determination for equality and stand by their legitimate call for democratic, open societies."

The leaders also increased the heat on Arab leaders resisting protests from the street. They issued a unequivocal demand for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to leave power and told Syria it must stop using violence against protesters or face additional international sanctions. "He (Gaddafi) has no future in a free, democratic Libya," the statement said. "He must go."

Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama said NATO's bombing campaign would be intensified in necessary to ensure Gaddafi's removal and Russia signed up to the G8 statement despite its previous strongly voiced concerns over the Western alliance's NATO's efforts topple the Libyan leader.

The summit host brushed aside talk of a Russian drive to find a negotiated settlement between the Libyan leader and Western powers.

"There is no mediation possible with Mr. Gaddafi," Sarkozy told a news conference. "Mr. Gaddafi must go. What we can discuss are the modalities of his departure."

Western leaders are concerned that without urgent action to stimulate the economies of North Africa and the Middle East and generate jobs for young people, the anger and frustration which sparked the protests might find a new outlet in extremism or precipitate an exodus of immigrants flooding across the Mediterranean to Europe.

"Those young Tunisians today looking for work are impatient," Tunisia's Finance Minister Jelloul Ayed told reporters.

"If the Tunisians don't feel very quickly that democracy is creating the conditions for them to feel better, more prosperous, then we run the risk that the democratic process will fail," he warned after joining the G8 talks.

Half the 40 billion dollars will come from international development banks, 10 billion dollars will come from rich Gulf countries and 10 billion dollars from bilateral donations from G8 members.

Of that, Sarkozy said France would contribute 1 billion euros (some 1.41 billion dollars). Obama has earmarked 2 billion dollars in loan assistance to Egypt. Britain announced 175 million dollars for the two countries and the European Commission has come up with an extra 1.2 billion euros (some 1.69 billion dollars) for the wider region.

More money is expected to come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in a communication to the G8, said it could make 35 billion dollars available to countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

"If we fail to support these countries, we risk giving oxygen to the extremists who prey on the frustrations and aspirations of young people," British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the summit. "You would see, I believe, if we fail, more terrorism, more immigration and more instability coming from Europe's southern border."

The summit also launched new "Deauville Partnership" to expand political and economic ties with the North Africa and the Middle East and called an extension of the mandate of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to cover the nations of the southern Mediterranean. The bank was set up in the early 1990s to support economies in the former Soviet bloc.

On the broader economic front, the G8 statement includes a commitment from the European Union to address the eurozone's sovereign debt problem with "determination" and an engagement from the United States to "put in place a clear and credible medium term fiscal consolidation framework."

European officials insisted they would defend the euro which has come under increasing pressure due to market doubts that Greece will be unable to pay its debts. Greece's woes have raised the risk of a default that could trigger a crisis across the eurozone.

Sarkozy said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were "totally, completely and unambiguously" committed to protecting the euro. He warned that attacks on the currency should be considered as an attack on Europe and an attack on France.

The French leader said the word "restructuring" was not in France's vocabulary if that entailed Greece or any other eurozone country not meeting its debt commitments. However, he suggested that the burden of debt repayment could somehow be shared by private investors.

In his news conference, Sarkozy also hinted that Obama had given his support to the candidacy of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to become the next head of the IMF, replacing her disgraced compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The arrangement whereby the post is reserved for a European is contested by emerging economies.