[originaltext] Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has urged rich, oil-p

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has urged rich, oil-producing countries in the Gulf, which have profited from a recent spike in oil prices, to join a global push to lift Affica out of poverty.
   Speaking ahead of a crucial week of negotiations for Prime  Minister Tony Blair who is due to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington Tuesday as part of a bid to dram up support for a plan to help Africa at a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Scotland next month, Brown pressed the need for urgent action.
   "I would like to see the off-producing states, the countries that have done well out of the rise in oil prices, being willing to make a contribution also to the new development agenda, and particularly to debt relief and to international aid," he told Good Morning Television (GMTV).
   "I’ve been in touch with the countries concerned asking them to make their contribution too," he said.
   Brown has helped to pioneer a plan to reduce debt, double aid and ensure fairer trade in Africa, which Blair is due to take to Bush who has so far voiced concerns about the scheme.
   Britain hopes to raise 100 billion dollars through a so-called international finance facility dreamt up by Brown, The Observer newspaper wrote on Sunday.
   Contributions from European Union countries are forecast to generate 80 billion dollars, with the remainder being covered by the United States. But Bush’s reluctance has left a 20 billion dollar aid-gap, which oil producing countries in the Gulf could help fill, the paper reported.
   "Globally, tackling the world’s deadliest diseases and halving world poverty will require the overall doubling of aid recommended by the Commission for Africa," Brown said in an article for the The Observer, refer ring to a commission formed by Blair last year that has drawn up a plan to help the continent.
   Brown emphasized the need to combat illnesses such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis that claim six million lives a year.