On the brink of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the heads of state of many of the African Union's (AU) 53 member governments have gathered in Sirte, Libya on Tuesday to prepare a final statement to urge the rich nations for more aid, fairer trade and debt relief.

On Monday, Libyan leader Muammer Qaddafi, as a comparatively strong force among the African nations, said African countries should learn from past experience instead of just looking at Western charity.

"We need to cooperate with countries around the world. Africa will not be able to improve its future by begging," he was quoted by local newspaper.

Qaddafi added that debt relief is not the ultimate way to improve the future of Africa. Africa, a continent that is abundantly gifted with natural resources and treasures, has to make good use of these resources to generate long-term and sustaining wealth, he explained.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the European Union (EU) Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and The Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa were also present at the meeting.

In response to Qaddafi’s speech, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters in Sirte most countries would prefer to trade themselves out of poverty rather than live on handouts. He acknowledged that fair world trade policy is one of the important factors to determine whether Africans can rebuild a future for themselves.

The challenge beyond aid would be the abandonment of restrictive trade embargoes and subsidies so that the countries of Africa could compete more fairly, Annan said.

However, it is expected that the final declaration to be drawn will urge the G8 to end all US$350 billion of African debt, not just the US$40 billion planned.

In addition, the statement will call for Africa to be given two permanent seats on the UN Security Council, even though how the two posts will be allocated remains undecided.

Meanwhile, Britain, which is hosting the G8 summit tomorrow, has also emphasised that trade was the key to unlocking Africa's development.

Britain's international development secretary, Hilary Benn, said to Reuters, "It's not about charity, it's about justice."

"But in the end it's going to be economic development, opening up the world trading system, enabling Africa to earn and trade its way out of poverty that's really going to make the difference, and for that to happen you also need peace and stability, good governance, and we have heard all that very clearly from the African Union summit."

Particularly, she drew attention to the problem of corruption in Africa which is believed to be worth tens of billions of dollars.

Today, tens of thousands of campaigners in Britain are preparing their final "moral crusade" to the leaders of the world’s richest nation on the brink of the G8 summit.