(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission on Friday urged member states to increase their aid levels for the poorest nations after OECD figures showed a fall last year for the first time since 2000.

"We are worried about this trend because we cannot afford to reduce development aid while trying to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement.

"We need more money to cut extreme poverty by half ... As I already warned last year, debt relief decisions are very positive but they are one-off measures. We need more predictable and sustained aid," he added.

Aid to the developing countries fell last year and most donors are not on track to meet their stated commitments, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report.

Following a substantial increase in 2006, EU aid figures for 2007 fell to 46.1 billion euros (72.4 billion dollars) from 47.7 billion euros in 2006.

The decrease in aid goes against an EU leaders' pledge in 2005 to increase aid levels collectively and individually by all member states.

"The decrease is largely explained by the end of exceptionally high levels of debt relief in the previous two years," the EU's executive arm said.

Large debt relief programmes for Iraq and Nigeria ended last year.

The EU's Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel urged the 27 European Union member states "to keep their promises and substantially increase aid levels.

"As the biggest donor in the world, we should give a good example and lead also in attaining higher aid levels, as we pledged in 2005," he added.

The EU Commission also voiced concern at the overall global decrease in aid funding, as highlighted by the OECD on Friday.

For 2007, the 22 member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, the world's major donors, provided 103.7 billion dollars (66.26 billion euros) in aid in 2007, down 8.4 percent.

"The Commission will reiterate its call to increase aid levels and commit to the promises made in the (Group of Eight), the UN and the major international conferences later this year on financing for development and improving aid effectiveness," the Commission said.

The Commission will next week propose "that every member state puts forward a multi-annual plan, indicating the increases planned per year," it added.

The EU is the most generous donor in the world, according to the Commission, with official development assistance amounting to 93 euros per citizen as opposed to 53 euros in the United States and 44 euros in Japan.

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