UN chief Kofi Annan told Group of Eight leaders meeting in the French Alps resort of Evian that "the time for additional funding has arrived".
With critics charging that the ambitious promises of last year's G8 meeting had largely failed to be turned into reality, Annan urged them to increase their contributions to a global fund on AIDS and devise a long-term strategy on food supplies.
French President Jacques Chirac, seeking to affirm his commitment, pledged that France would triple its contribution to the Global Fund for AIDS from 50-million euros to 150-million euros a year.
He hailed what he called an "historic" initiative by US President George W Bush that would grant 15-billion dollars over five years to the fight against the AIDS pandemic, around a third to the Global Fund.
Chirac said Bush was "totally right" in urging other countries to match the US contribution and thought Europe would "accept the challenge".
The French president also said he was in favour of a tax on the arms trade to help finance a global fund to feed the world's hungry.
Such a tax, being pushed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, "would not be at all unjustified," Chirac told a press conference.
But it was unclear how much actual progress would be made here on carrying through last year's promises to tackle poverty, disease, lack of water and the economic and democratic failings shackling the world's poorest continent.
The United Nations reckons development aid would need to be doubled to 100-billion dollars a year to meet the international community's commitments, such as halving by 2015 the number of people in poverty.
Annan's comments came in remarks at discussions between G8 leaders and the presidents of Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.
They are the nations that together set up the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), a contract to produce clean democracy and solid economic policies in return for aid.
Annan thanked Bush and other leaders for increasing AIDS funding, but asked them to direct more contributions to the Global Fund.
On food, Annan called for a "long-term strategy" emphasizing investment in rural infrastructure and research to assure supplies.
He said emergency food needs in southern Africa remained "immense," even if the worst predictions had not come true.
In earlier remarks yesterday, Annan urged rich states to slash farm subsidies and boost debt relief.
"We face many development challenges, but it is no good tackling them piecemeal".
South African President Thabo Mbeki has also called on the G8 to drop trade barriers, saying any aid the summit may announce would "not make sense" unless poorer nations could export goods more freely to wealthy countries.
He said African nations were "very unhappy" at the slow progress being made in writing off debt.
Access to medicines is another key issue, with African nations pressing for generic, and cheaper, drugs to fight AIDS and other diseases.
Chirac said he hoped to see African nations invited to every summit of the world's richest countries, indicating Britain "will do the same" when it hosts the gathering in 2005 and the US may do so next year.
"The G8 needs to listen to others, that there is dialogue, and the others, who represent a growing part of the world economy, need to feel that they are listened to and respected," he said. Sapa-AFP.
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