UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed on Friday the agreement by the leaders of the world 's industrial powers in Scotland on a package doubling overall aid to Africa to 50 billion US dollars a year by 2010, but said it was "only a beginning".

In a statement issued by a UN spokesman in New York, Annan expressed disappointment that the G8 leaders did not commit themselves to a "clear, unambiguous date for ending export subsidies."

"This G8 was being closely watched by people everywhere. The leaders carried the hopes of people around the world who wanted progress towards reducing poverty in Africa, and today they got it, " he said.

"I hope Gleneagles will be remembered as the beginning of something very big, perhaps even the beginning of the end of mass poverty."

The statement congratulated British Prime Minster Tony Blair and the other leaders at the summit for agreeing on the deal, which comprises both aid and debt relief and aims to ensure that African countries have a means to tackle the obstacles holding back progress towards halving poverty by 2015 and the other Millennium Development Goals.

"This is very good news," Annan said, welcoming recent progress on debt relief, with final agreement coming in Gleneagles on an earlier decision taken by the G7 finance ministers to wipe out the debt of 18 of the most indebted countries, and an innovative Paris Club debt solution for Nigeria.

"Further, in the G8 meeting with African leaders, the latter reaffirmed their commitment to good governance, democracy and the fight against corruption," he said.

"I had hoped that G8 leaders might also have committed themselves to a clear, unambiguous date for ending export subsidies. They will have another opportunity to do so in December, at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Hong Kong," he said.

"But this is the beginning, not the end, for the people and the leaders who made today's success possible. We got here through the exercise of political will. That must not be allowed to disperse if we are to keep on track for 2015," he added.

Source: Xinhua