Malaysia has called for a special UN mechanism to monitor overseas development aid provided by developed countries following criticism that most of them have not kept their pledges.

Rich nations had pledged 30 years ago to set aside up to 0.7 percent of their gross national income for aid to poor countries but most of them had not lived up to their promise, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi told the UN General Assembly.

"To ensure that the political will to achieve the target continues to be strengthened and the momentum generated is not lost, I believe that it is time to establish an effective mechanism to monitor ODA (overseas development aid) flows," he said.

"A small unit within the United Nations can be established for this purpose," Abdullah said.

The work of the unit, he said, need not begin from scratch as it could draw upon the activities of the so-called development assistance committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Overseas aid up

According to the OECD, the level of overseas development aid increased to RM78.6 billion last year, representing a 4.6 percent increase from 2003.

This figure however represents a mere 0.25 percent of the combined gross national income of the members of the organization's development assistance panel.

"We are therefore still far away from achieving the target of 0.7 percent set more than 30 years ago," Abdullah said, noting that only five of 22 of the OECD panel member nations had met the objective.

Developing countries are also showing an increasing willingness to make bilateral aid contributions, he noted.