A meeting of G8 development ministers in Halifax has ended after two days of what host and International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda describes as "substantive and productive" discussions but which did not produce any clear commitments.

"We did not talk about dollars that would be put forward," Oda told reporters in Halifax on Wednesday morning.

"Each of us will take the discussions we've had [and] will go back and discuss this with our leaders," she said, adding that "commitments will be made" at the G8 summit in Hunstville, Ont., at the end of June.

The most important product of the discussions, which covered a range of topics, including maternal health, nutrition and disease prevention, is a move toward an "integrated, harmonized approach" to doing business, Oda suggested.

"We have committed to being more accountable to reporting donor funding and also in identifying key indicators so we can measure our work and outcomes that we are achieving."

'Solidarity' with Canadian plan

Oda did not use the closing news conference to address directly the controversial decision by the Conservative government not to fund abortion in its G8 child and maternal health-care initiative for developing countries.

Instead, she thanked the visiting delegates for "the solidarity they expressed."

"All G8 members lauded Canada's initiative to champion healthier mothers, healthier babies and to reduce maternal and child mortality," Oda said.

When asked if Canada and the U.S. are diametrically opposed on the issue, Rajiv Shah, the U.S. delegate and administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, said the U.S. supports "a comprehensive approach to family planning."

Oda, meanwhile, repeated that Canada follows what she has previously called "the internationally accepted definition of family planning" agreed to by the World Health Organization, United Nations and G8 development agencies, which includes a woman's right to space her pregnancies.

"Family planning does not include abortion," Oda said.

Delegates from Italy, Japan, Germany, Russia and the European Union also attended the news conference.