The South African President, Thabo Mbeki, has called for an international initiative to prevent Africa being left behind by the revolution on the internet.

Mr Mbeki told the economic forum at Davos in Switzerland that there was a real risk that Africa's poverty could be compounded by lack of access to the internet.

He pointed out that of 1.7m registered internet users in Africa, 1.6m were in South Africa.

His warning came after the chairman of America On-Line, Steven Case, and Microsoft's Chairman, Bill Gates, admitted that one of the challenges facing the industry was how to prevent the internet widening the gap between rich and poor.

Speaking at the forum, Mr Case said billions of people still had no access to the Internet, or even the telephone.

He said a concerted effort from both businesses and governments was needed to narrow what he called the digital gap between rich and poor.

Criticises EU trade pact

Mr Mbeki also criticised the EU for its failure to implement a �17bn free trade pact with South Africa, despite years of negotiations.

The pact, which was due to come into force on 1 January, has been stalled by the concerns of a number of Mediterranean wine producing states about South Africa's use of such terms as sherry, grappa, and ouzo to describe its products.

"We are waiting for the EU to resolve the matter... The message it that of bad faith negotiations. It conveys a bad message about the Europeans," he said.

Mr Mbeki also held talks with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, and supported his position that Italy had been discriminated against in the talks.