Rich countries are likely to back Britain’s bid to persuade them to give more debt relief and resources to Africa, as well as dismantling trade barriers which hurt poor nations, British finance minister Gordon Brown said. Brown made the comments yesterday in an interview with South African television before a two-day meeting of Britain’s Commission for Africa, which aims to boost prosperity on the world’s poorest continent.

Around 15 African finance ministers will attend the talks, set to focus on a lengthy report outlining steps to strengthen Africa’s development efforts, which will be presented to a summit of the G8 industrial nations in Scotland in March. “I believe the report ... will persuade the richest countries to give more debt relief to the poorest countries in Africa, to provide more resources to education, health and development and to open up their trade regimes,” Brown said.

Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela told Brown on Sunday he would travel to London in February — a rare step given his fragile health — to lobby a G7 meeting for support for Britain’s modern “Marshall plan” for Africa. Brown said he would get the ball rolling at a meeting of European Union (EU) finance ministers which was scheduled to take place today.

Britain’s initiative also involves doubling annual aid to developing countries to $100 billion and setting up a fund to help poor nations to develop the infrastructure needed to compete globally. “I see this as a moment of opportunity, I see Africa ripe for progress — I’ve seen the potential to move forward,” Brown told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).

Trade is seen as crucial to the effort to boost prosperity in Africa as the continent’s share of the global total has fallen to 2 percent from 6 percent two decades ago. Brown has described barriers erected by rich nations to protect their industries as “scandalous”, saying that more is spent daily on an average European cow than on a poor African.

In total, rich nations spend $300 billion to subsidise their own industries each year against $50 billion on aid, he said. Brown said scrapping the EU’s agricultural subsidies could raise the income of farmers in poor countries by more than $8 billion per year and urged the 15-nation bloc to do more to reform the “scandal and waste” of its farm policy.

Britain has proposed writing off multilateral debt held by the world’s 70 poorest countries with a pledge to pay its share of the total — which will cost the country $2 billion over a 10-year period. “We will ask the G7 countries to write off multilateral debt — we will pay our share, and we hope the United States, Japan and the rest will join us. It’s something that has been left for far too long,” Brown said on television.

Brown unveiled details of Britain’s debt relief for Tanzania and Mozambique during visits on a tour of the continent which included Kenya, before arriving in South Africa on Saturday. South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, who has played a key role in the Commission for Africa’s report, said it must reflect the views and aspirations of African policy makers. “We must have a voice that is authentic, aspirational for Africa and committed to driving change,” he told SABC.

Rebecca Harrison</B>