Jeffrey Sachs, who directs the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York City and is a special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, comments on development aid and China's help in eradicating poverty in Africa.

Sachs spoke at a China-Africa seminar, organised by the United National Development Programme in Beijing yesterday.

On provision of aid and politics: “I believe that aid has become much too politicized and not appropriately focused on development. For aid to be effective on development, it should be focused on development, it should be carried out consistently and not given on and off according to politics.

“I don't think the use of aid for sanctions, for trying to force countries to do one thing or another, has much of a useful track record.

“When you turn aid on and off, you end up destroying the development component, because development requires consistency and investment over a long period of time. You very rarely achieve the political ends that the donor is supposedly aiming to achieve.

“I do believe the best way to end many of the conflicts in Africa is to address the underlying conditions of poverty.

“Take off the political lenses and put on the lenses of fighting poverty, fighting diseases, fighting hunger, doing it consistently and then we will achieve much better outcomes in terms of ending conflicts than we are doing right now.”

On China's role: “China's role in Africa is extraordinarily positive and extraordinary important.

“China has discovered the world's best and most important anti-malaria medicine of our time, derived from the traditional herbal Chinese remedy. That is the leading malaria medicine in the world today.

“It symbolises how China's science and technology can play maybe the main role as partner with Africa today, to help Africa out of this trap of extreme poverty.”

“Africa is a hungry continent right now. And the hunger crisis is an extremely urgent and pressing matter for virtually all of Africa. It's also a solvable crisis and another example where China has many experiences and technologies to overcome food crisis. I'm working in many parts of Africa where Chinese technologies can make all the difference.”