Leaders from Latin America and the European Union gathered in Peru Friday for a summit aimed at tackling poverty and climate change, but which was bogged down by differences over trade.

Some 50 leaders attended the event under heavy security, including European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Issues such as the recent spike in food prices, and the rising demand for energy in developing nations, were also on the table.

The host, Peruvian President Alan Garcia, stressed in his opening remarks that "many ties unite the two continents" and expressed a wish to see them reinforced.

Personality conflicts were expected during the summit.

Chavez in particular succeeded in needling several Latin American and EU leaders with his trademark rhetoric ahead of the meeting.

The president of neighboring Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, who is accusing him of giving material support to FARC guerrillas, and Merkel, who has urged South American governments to distance themselves from Chavez, were singled out for invective.

But for the European Union, trade negotiations were proving the main obstacle.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told reporters on the eve of the summit that outstanding differences in several areas, especially bananas, could threaten planned 2009 EU free trade agreements with Central American nations and the the Andean Community, comprising Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

"It will be a major missed opportunity if we do not accelerate our negotiations," he warned.

Trade between the two regions has doubled in the past eight years to more than 142 billion dollars.

But while parts of Latin America are proving resistant to the global economic downturn and are recording healthy growth, vastly unequal wealth distribution has had little effect on longstanding social tensions.

The region has 194 million people -- more than a third of its population -- living in poverty.

The summit was due to close with a joint declaration that will recommend ways to tackle global warming and the food crisis and to stem the trade in narcotics.

Several bilateral meetings on its sidelines were also scheduled to address other issues. Fillon, for example, was to meet the leaders of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador to evoke the plight of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages held by the FARC rebels.

For all the hopes expressed by Barosso that this would "not be just another summit," the absence of several heavyweight leaders -- notably British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- undermined the significance of its deliberations.

A parallel "people's summit" organized by leftwing groups was being held at the same time as the summit, and was to host appearances by Chavez and his socialist ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales, later Friday.