Evian, France ? World leaders clamped a harmonious face on a summit simmering with Iraq war disputes Sunday, striking a united front with pledges of billions of dollars to fight AIDS and hunger in poor nations.

The meeting’s most closely watched moment was the welcoming handshake between French President Jacques Chirac and President Bush, whose wartime differences led to angry recriminations on both sides of the Atlantic. They greeted each other with polite smiles, a brief handshake and small talk before walking into a luncheon with other presidents and prime ministers.

Chirac, at a news conference later, praised Bush for getting Congress to pass a $15 billion package to combat AIDS in the developing world.

“Bush took a decision in this area that I would not hesitate to call historic,” Chirac said. He said France would triple its AIDS spending, to about $179 million, and European Union officials said the 15 member nations are expected to commit about $1.2 billion in new funds at a summit in Greece later this month.

Largely peaceful demonstrations against the summit deteriorated into battles between riot police and protestors that continued into early today. For more than nine hours, police used rubber pellets, tear gas and water cannons against several thousand militants who rampaged through the Swiss city of Geneva, across Lake Geneva from the meeting.

The protesters looted gas stations, pharmacies and other shops, leaving downtown Geneva in a state of chaos. Only a handful of stores were left intact — mainly those which had anti-G-8 or anti-war banners in their windows. Even the bulletproof windows of big banks were smashed.

Inside the summit, there was a concerted effort to get beyond Iraq.

“Everybody talked positively. Nobody talked about the past,” said Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, attending his 10th and final summit. “Everybody was concentrating on creating a mood of solidarity.”

Swiss President Pascal Couchepin said that even just one hour into the summit, “the atmosphere was much better. At the end of the day, the atmosphere was quite good.”

A police officer with shield and baton chases a rioting demonstrator in the streets of Geneva. After heavy riots Saturday night and Sunday morning, demonstrators continued to show their opposition to the G-8 summit Sunday evening. Demonstrators had gathered in Lausanne and Geneva over the last days to protest the G-8 summit taking place in nearby Evian, France.

White House officials suggested Bush was taking a wait-and-see approach about his relationship with Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, another ardent war foe.

It was a different matter, though, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also opposed the U.S.-led drive to depose Saddam Hussein but, in Washington’s view, was not confrontational about it.

Putin and Bush held a reconciliation meeting earlier Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia, where they celebrated ratification of a major nuclear arms agreement and proclaimed their close friendship. “Strange as it may sound,” Putin said, the United States and Russia have even strengthened ties — a point that Bush was happy to echo.

“We will show the world that friends can disagree, move beyond disagreement and work in a very constructive and important way to maintain the peace,” Bush said.

The annual summit of industrialized nations brought together the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia at a spa on the banks of Lake Geneva. They were joined on the opening day by leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Africa and developing countries such as China, India and Mexico — a move intended in part to answer the criticism of anti-globalization protesters that the G-8 was a rich country’s club insensitive to the needs of poorer countries.