Leaders from emerging economic powers India, South Africa and Brazil on Wednesday slammed rich nations over what they said is a self-made financial crisis.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said many developing countries had become "victims of the global financial crisis generated by the rich countries."

He said it was unfair that poorer nations had "to pay for the irresponsibility of speculators who have transformed the world into a gigantic casino."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hosting Lula and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe for the third annual India-Brazil-South Africa (Ibsa) conference.

Ill-conceived decisions

Motlanthe was equally damning, saying the "ill-conceived decisions of a few have brought the international financial system to the brink of collapse."

He said both developed and developing nations needed to address "what really went wrong" and caused "an unmitigated disaster." "As the developing world, we must accept that one-size-fits-all solutions prescribed to us by the developed world must be approached with a great deal of caution," Motlanthe said.

The Ibsa, which came into existence in 2003, groups some of the largest economies in Asia, Africa and South America.

The three countries, which have a combined population of 1.3-billion, believe they can best achieve results on issues such as World Trade talks and push through UN Security Council reforms by working together.

AFP