Canada will give $100 million to developing countries to fight climate change, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the three-day Francophonie summit in Quebec City, Harper said developed countries such as Canada are in a position to help poorer nations.

"We are aware that developing countries do not have as many resources with which to manage climate change and adaptation to the climate," he said.

Harper said the money will help "vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa, the Caribbean and the South Pacific."

The prime minister also said summit leaders agreed to work together to limit the effects of the world financial crisis on emerging economies. He reiterated the need for the world's developed countries to fight protectionism on trade issues, emphasizing that developing countries in particular need access to markets and trade opportunities.

"We have to remember that the countries of the south are certainly not responsible and not the source of this particular crisis in any way, shape or form," Harper said of the current global economic uncertainty.

On Saturday, delegates unanimously backed French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call for more discussions, as well as economic reforms, to ease global financial woes.

Sarkozy said there should be a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries by year's end to consider a restructuring of the global financial system.

Wide range of issues covered

The final communiqué of the summit, six months in the making, is expected to cover everything from climate change and the global credit crisis to democracy and human rights.

The Francophonie is the French-language equivalent of the Commonwealth and a summit is held every two years. The 13th Francophonie summit will be held in Madagascar, Harper said.

Analysts expect member countries to be united in signing the communiqué to end the 12th summit.

During the last summit held in Bucharest, Harper rejected a resolution to include in the final communiqué a passage recognizing the suffering of the Lebanese in the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Harper called for the resolution to recognize the victims in both Lebanon and Israel. Later, its wording was changed to denounce the impact the war was having on "all of the civilian populations."

With files from the Canadian Press