The European Union overcame major differences within its ranks and agreed today to lift its spending on development aid to an average of 0.39 per cent of gross national product (GNP) by 2006.
The EU gave aid worth €25.4 billion in 2000, the last year for which final figures are available. That was equivalent to 0.33 per cent of its collective GNP and represented more than half of all the aid given to developing countries that year.
The agreement, though leaving EU aid well below a United Nations target of 0.7 per cent, saved face for the 15-nation bloc ahead of a major UN conference next week in Mexico and followed last-minute support from German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroeder.
Under an EU procedure, member states had had until today to object to the proposed aid target and none did, meaning it had been approved, the EU source said.
Three decades after the international community adopted a goal of devoting 0.7 per cent of national income to aid, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands had argued the EU should offer more than the modest target proposed by Spain, which presiding the bloc at the moment. But other countries such as Germany, facing budgetary problems, had been reluctant to commit to giving more.
Mr Schroeder said Berlin had decided to back an increase in development aid but wanted it linked to the fight against terrorism.
"I would say a rise is appropriate. It is important that Europe sees the necessity of a security concept that relies not just on military assistance," Mr Schroeder told a news conference in Berlin with visiting Afghan leader Mr Hamid Karzai.
His comments echoed earlier statements by British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair who argued recently that unless economically developed nations helped less developed states such as many in Africa they risked facing more conflicts in the future.
Mr Schroeder, who recently defeated a European Commission call for Germany to be censured over its growing budget deficit, said he was sure Germany would be able to fulfil its obligations under the EU aid proposal without exceeding its deficit targets.
"We aim to find a suitable compromise. It is obvious that we have to work within compliance of national budget restraints," Mr Schroeder said.