Mr Hunter has expressed a commitment to tackling poverty

First Minister Jack McConnell has accepted an invitation from millionaire businessman Tom Hunter to spearhead a national awareness drive.

Both have identified the UK's G8 presidency as a chance to turn global attention towards ending poverty.

Mr Hunter has also pledged �1m in aid to help rebuild schools destroyed in the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

The entrepreneur said he wanted his money to go towards the creation of an early warning system in the region.

In a letter to all MSPs, Mr Hunter urged them to unite in the fight against poverty and he wants that message to be heard loud and clear at the summit of leaders of the world's leading industrialised nations at Gleneagles in July.

'Preventable deaths'

The letter stated: "Every week around our world over 200,000 people die of preventable causes - more than this awful tsunami and indeed more than Hiroshima - but these are largely invisible deaths, away from the glare of the TV cameras.

"To put that further into perspective every week the equivalent of the populations of Inverness, Nairn, Ayr and Dunfermline are dying from preventable causes.

"Natural disasters are not preventable, these deaths are."

He added: "Let's send the G8 a loud and clear collective message - Scotland says no more extreme poverty."

The G8 leaders will gather at the Gleneagles Hotel

Mr McConnell backed Mr Hunter's call.

He said: "I have told Tom Hunter that I will personally work with him to make the most impact and I will do all I can to ensure all MSPs and parties in the parliament respond to his call for us to unite to make poverty history."

Ewan Hunter, chief executive of Mr Hunter's charitable foundation, said that a donation of �1m to help victims of the tsunami disaster will focus on two worthwhile causes.

"We wanted to assess the position thoroughly and ensure any funds we applied went to a long-term solution," he said.

"It seemed to us the short-term funding needs had largely been addressed.

"Hence we will divide our funding as needed between the early detection system - but for the remotest and most vulnerable islands - and in the rebuilding of the schools in the most needed areas.

"It's really about prevention and development."

Education and enterprise

In the run-up to Christmas Mr Hunter pledged more than �6m to Band Aid.

The Sports Division founder vowed to match every �10 spent on the Live Aid DVD and every �4 on Band Aid 20's chart-topping single, Do They Know It's Christmas?

Mr Hunter, 43, made headlines in 2003 when he announced plans to give �100m of his fortune to charity.

He confirmed the money would be donated to his own charitable institution The Hunter Foundation and used to help children with their education and sharpen their enterprise skills.