Tony Baldry

Next year could be a turning point for Africa but Western governments must not make more "empty promises", a committee of MPs has said.

In a report on the government's development promises for the poverty-stricken continent, the Commons international development committee said Tony Blair was pushing forward a "bold" initiative for 2005.

Britain will lead the G8 and the EU next year, and the prime minister has established a Commission for Africa in a bid to develop a consensus on ways to promote development.

The report said the commission was "a bold initiative to create an agenda for action for the G8, to make 2005 a turning point for Africa".

"But Africans do not want to see more empty promises; they want to see the rich world honour its existing commitments," it added.

"If nothing changes as a result of the initiative, it will be rightly judged a failure, but it is too soon to make such an assessment."

Coherence

It also warned that policies which lack coherence and undermine development are "all too easy to find".

Aid is undermined by protectionist and trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, while doctors and nurses are poached from countries which can not afford to lose them.

"The Commission for Africa can do much to shame and encourage the G8 into keeping its promises, taking policy coherence more seriously, and changing the policies which undermine Africa's ability to prosper in the global economy," said the committee.

"With UK leadership of the EU and the G8, the year 2005 can be a turning point. The opportunity must not be missed."

Tony Baldry, chairman of the committee, welcomed the government's push but warned that "if nothing changes as a result of it, it will have been a waste of time".

"What Africa needs is not empty promises, but action," he said.

"Action on aid, on debt and on trade is essential, but governments in the developed world also need to ensure that their policies on a range of other issues – arms exports, agriculture, money laundering, corruption, climate change and migration – are supportive of development goals.

"Otherwise, we are simply taking with one hand what we give with the other."