Despite reservations about gaps in the report, ActionAid believes that taken together, the recommendations are an ambitious but realistic agenda for debt, aid, trade and HIV and Aids.

It warns that the first real test will be whether it is acted upon at the G8 leaders’ Gleneagles summit in July.

Steve Tibbett, ActionAid’s Head of Policy said: «The Commission document is not an end in itself. No matter how good the report is, and many of the recommendations are well worth the wait, ultimately outcomes are what count.»

One glaring omission is the absence of serious proposals to regulate multinational companies in Africa, given that the report envisages a major expansion of private sector investment.

«The Commission has raised the bar. It’s strong on aid and on debt cancellation. It recognises that we need to comprehensively fund the fight against HIV and Aids. There are some pretty big holes on trade and investment. But in a year when we are trying to make poverty history, we mustn’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good», said Steve Tibbett.

ActionAid has launched its own African Commission for Britain, which calls for the UK government to first do no harm in Africa, and second to take immediate action. Many of the challenges to the UK government in ActionAid’s 10 point plan - for instance on aid, trade and corruption - are supported by the Commission’s own recommendations.

Mrs Taaka Awori, County Director, ActionAid Ghana and chair of ActionAid’s African Commission for Britain said: "Too many initiatives start from the assumption that ‘West knows best’. Donors apply conditions to force African governments into following ‘sound’ policies. Trade negotiations lock African countries into a free trade regime that rich countries don’t follow themselves.

«There are key actions that Britain must take before it can be considered a true friend of Africa. These include doubling its aid, cancelling unpayable debts, promoting a just international trading regime and contributing a fair sum to the fight against Africa’s Aids epidemic.»