Africa needs fairer trade, not just cancellation of old debts and more aid, if the continent is to break free from poverty, Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi said on Monday. Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations will meet next week in Gleneagles, Scotland, with the plight of world's poorest continent topping the agenda, and Kituyi said he welcomed the global attention. "There is this window and I think the world means well," he told Reuters in an interview in London. "The challenge is how can we start initiatives that are viable and sustainable and can build a momentum to make Africa go to work." G8 finance ministers agreed earlier this month to wipe out more than $40 billion of poor nations' debts but aid campaigners say the group must now clinch deals to double aid and make trade fairer by allowing more access to rich nations' markets. Kituyi said he hoped the Gleneagles meeting, hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, would end with a clear statement that any aid increase be channelled to trade, so that Africa can also help itself. --More 2303 Local Time 2003 GMT
