(BAMAKO) - The global financial crisis, rising gas prices and climate change means richer countries should do more to help poorer nations, European development commissioner Louis Michel said Monday.

"It's clear that climate change, the financial crisis, the increase in energy prices, all these global challenges are going to make the situation more dramatic for the poorest countries," Michel told AFP on the sidelines of an EU-Africa summit in the Malian capital of Bamako.

The former Belgian defence minister said the current crisis meant there should be a greater effort from developed countries to help poorer ones.

"That's where I have hope ... the 10th European Development Fund has been increased by 35 percent from the ninth," Michel added.

The European Development Fund is an EU programme designed to provide aid to poor countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The fund, reviewed every seven years, is currently worth 22.7 billion euros.

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