Brown: Set for renewed drive on Africa

The chancellor is today preparing for a six day tour of Africa where he will expand on his strategy to deliver a new "Marshall plan" for the continent.

As Britain takes up the chairmanship of the G8, Gordon Brown is to tour the region - where he will put debt relief, international aid and a renewed effort to combat disease centre stage.

The chancellor departs on Tuesday and will take in Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa - where he will deliver a keynote speech next Monday.

Brown hopes to broker an international agreement to tackle the double disasters inflicted by disease and debt.

Speaking as he heads to the region, Brown said: "This is a make or break year for development - an opportunity to make a breakthrough on debt relief and development, on tackling disease and on delivering the Doha development round on trade."

New focus

Following weeks of speculation about a rift between the chancellor and the prime minister, Brown is set to focus on an issue he hopes will feature heavily in future government policy.

The trip also underlines Brown's efforts to show himself as a leader in waiting - with a far wider role than simply managing the UK economy.

Speaking last week the chancellor said he wanted to "forge a new 'Marshall Plan' for the entire developing world".

During his six-day tour of sub-Saharan Africa Brown will call for a renewed effort to tackle diseases such as Aids and tuberculosis.

While he will press for the greater use of anti-retroviral drugs in the war against HIV/Aids, he will talk up the need to find a vaccine against a vaccine which is rapidly killing a continent.

He will call for a significant increase in funding for the scientific search for a vaccine - reflecting on the £400 million delivered by Bill Gates for research for an anti-malaria vaccine.

Debt moves

Brown will also press the case for widespread debt relief in Africa - where many nations spend more on repaying Western governments than they do on health or education.

The chancellor will also use his visit to make the case for better trade terms between the West and Africa.

He will speak out strongly against European and US trade barriers which prevent the continent selling its goods into Western markets.

Brown is also set to remind world leaders of their duty to deliver on past commitments to Africa.

Western duty

In his address last week the chancellor reminded his colleagues on the world stage that the Millennium Development Goals "were not a casual commitment"

"Every world leader signed up. Every international body signed up. Almost every single country signed up," he said.

"But already, so close to the start of our journey to 2015, it is clear that our destination risks becoming out of reach, receding into the distance."

Brown is also set to use his trip to mount an "assault on the underlying causes of poverty".

The chancellor, however, will also remind African nations of their responsibility to deliver an environment where aid and debt relief improves the lives of ordinary people.

"I believe in 2005 we have a once in a generation opportunity to deliver for our times a modern Marshall Plan for the developing world - a new deal between the richest countries and the poorest countries but one in which the developing countries are not supplicants but partners," he said last week.