Rich countries are likely to back Britain's bid to persuade them to give more debt relief and resources to Africa, as well as dismantling trade barriers that hurt poor nations, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mr Gordon Brown made the comments today in an interview with South African television before a two-day meeting of Britain's Commission for Africa, which aims to boost prosperity on the world's poorest continent.
Around 15 African finance ministers will attend the talks, set to focus on a lengthy report outlining steps to strengthen Africa's development efforts, which will be ready in mid-March and presented to a summit of the G8 industrial nations in Scotland in July.
"I believe the report . . . will persuade the richest countries to give more debt relief to the poorest countries in Africa, to provide more resources to education, health and development and to open up their trade regimes," Mr Brown said.
Mr Nelson Mandela told Mr Brown today he would travel to London in February - a rare step given his fragile health - to lobby a G7 meeting for support for Britain's modern "Marshall plan" for Africa.
"I see this as a moment of opportunity, I see Africa ripe for progress - I've seen the potential to move forward," Mr Brown told the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
Trade is seen as crucial to the effort to boost prosperity in Africa as the continent's share of the global total has fallen to 2 per cent from 6 per cent two decades ago.
Mr Brown has described barriers erected by rich nations to protect their industries as "scandalous", saying that more is spent daily on an average European cow than on a poor African.
In total, rich nations spend $300 billion to subsidise their own industries each year against $50 billion on aid, he said.
Mr Brown said scrapping the EU's agricultural subsidies could raise the income of farmers in poor countries by more than $8 billion per year and urged the 15-nation bloc to do more to reform the "scandal and waste" of its farm policy.