LONDON, March 11 (UPI) -- The British-led Commission for Africa called Friday for a doubling of aid to the continent and a lifting of trade barriers against African producers.
Aid should be raised to $50 billion over 10 years, the Commission's final report said. It also called for the debt of the poorest nations to be canceled.
African leaders need to root out corruption and promote good governance, it said, while rich countries can crack down by policing corrupt payments and giving back funds deposited by corrupt African officials in European banks.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said reducing poverty in Africa was "the fundamental challenge of our generation."
"Africa can change for the better and the report shows how," he said in presenting the report in London.
He promised to change British policy to meet the recommendations of the commission, which he set up in 2004.
Commissioners include Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, several African leaders and musician and activist Sir Bob Geldof.
Geldof said the report redefines the "dysfunctional relationship" between the developed world and Africa.
Putting the recommendations into practice would cost each citizen in rich countries the equivalent of just half a stick of chewing gum per day.
