In a bid to calm troubled financial markets, the G7 group of the world’s richest industrial nations have agreed to continue their economic stimulus policies.

At the close of two days of talks in northern Canada, they said they were committed to maintaining economic support until a strong recovery had taken hold.

They also agreed to cancel all of Haiti’s remaining debt, but promised no help to the struggling economies of Spain, Portugal and Greece, despite concerns about the falling value of the euro and government debt in the three southern European countries. They failed to agree on bank regulations or the taxing of bankers’ bonuses.