Washington, Apr 3: To make Africa an "alternative pole of growth as India, China and other countries", the World Bank President has outlined a plan for sovereign wealth funds to invest "one per cent" of their holdings in equity in the continent.

The plan for sub-Saharan Africa is aimed at tapping long-term global liquidity to boost investment opportunities and development, according to World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

In a major policy address, Zoellick underlined the urgent need to counter immediate threats in response to the current global crisis while laying the foundations to maximise opportunity and hope for all over the longer term.

The former Number two at the State Department in the Bush administration urged developed countries to provide immediate support to help the worlds poor facing skyrocketing food prices.

He also called for a global trade deal to be agreed as soon as possible, and detailed an initiative to help countries manage their wealth earned from high energy and mineral prices in a more inclusive way.

According to Zoellick the World Bank Group will work with sovereign wealth funds to create a "One Per cent Solution" for equity investment in Africa a continent with opportunities and the potential to become an alternative pole of growth as China, India and other countries are today.

"Today, sovereign wealth funds hold an estimated USD three trillion in assets. If the World Bank Group can help create the platforms and benchmarks, the investment of even one percent of their assets would draw USD 30 billion to African growth, development, and opportunity," he said.

The sovereign wealth fund, Zoellick argued, offered opportunity and are not to be feared.

"The sovereign funds need transparency and should be guided by best practice to avoid politicization. But I believe we should celebrate a possibility that government-sponsored funds will invest equity in development" he said.

Zoellick touched on the critical needs of the international system against the face of rising challenges; and aside from the "now or never" scenario pegged for the successful completion of the Doha Round of Trade talks, the World Bank Chief called for a New Deal for Global Food Policy.

"The World Bank Group estimates that 33 countries around the world face potential social unrest because of the acute hike in food and energy prices.

"For these countries, where food comprises from half to three quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival" Zoellick said in a statement put out by the bank.

The immediate priority was for the United States, the European Union, Japan and other developed countries to provide the United Nations World Food Programme with the USD 500 million it needs for emergency food supplies.

The Bank, for its part, is assisting by backing feeding and cash programs for vulnerable people and public work for food programmes, he said.

But Zoellick maintained that the New Deal for Global Food Policy also required a shift from traditional food aid to funding to help build local food markets and boost farm production and so help create a "Green Revolution" for sub-Saharan Africa.

"We will almost double our own lending for agriculture in Africa from USD 450 million to USD 800 million and can help countries and farmers manage systematic risks, including through financial innovations, to counter weather variability, such as drought," he has said in the release.