By Mark Davies BBC News Online political reporter

A UK plan to issue bonds in an attempt to double global aid cash have attracted interest from the UN and World Bank, Chancellor Gordon Brown has said.

Mr Brown was outlining details of the International Financing Facility (IFF), which is aimed at increasing worldwide aid funding from $50bn to $100bn.

As families in those countries are lifted out of poverty, new and dynamic markets will be created Gordon Brown

The chancellor has warned that unless efforts are stepped up to boost aid budgets, the Millennium Development Goals on poverty will not be reached.

Long-term

The MDGs, agreed in a United Nations declaration in September 2000, call for a halving of the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015.

The aim is also to see every child in education and to reduce infant mortality by two thirds and maternal mortality by three quarters.

The UK Government's plan is to take a long-term approach to aid by issuing bonds to raise cash up front and effectively lock-in future governments to the strategy.

Mr Brown has discussed his proposals with finance ministers in donor countries including the US, France, Germany and Italy.

Plan

He said on Thursday that the UN, IMF and World Bank had shown interest in the plan, while he has already indicated "long-term binding commitments" from some of the world's richest countries.

Mr Brown believes the long-term nature of the aid would allow nations to plan investment effectively and efficiently.

He said: "The IFF will provide developing countries that reform with the means to invest in schools and healthcare, roads and legal systems."

He said it would help "to create the environment businesses need as well as create the conditions that will enable countries to participate in, and benefit from, global trade".

"And as families in those countries are lifted out of poverty, new and dynamic markets will be created," he added.

International Development Secretary Clare Short said the money would help any country committed to reform to move towards the Millennium Development Goals.

Effective

"This would help create a more just and safer world," she said.

Under the plan, donors would pledge to make annual payments to the IFF for 15 years.

Bonds would then be issued to raise cash disbursed to poor countries in four to five year programmes.

The Treasury believes this would provide "the predictability essential for effective aid".

Cash would be repaid over a further 15 years before the fund is wound up.

Backing

Safeguards would be put in place to ensure that cash is used in programmes aimed at meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

Countries receiving cash would have to meet conditions - such as following anti-corruption policies - and payments could be suspended if they are breached.

Aid agencies generally back Mr Brown's plans, saying few others on the world stage have come up with ways of addressing the need for new proposals if the goals are to be met.

The Conservatives say they back attempts to reduce world poverty, but that the success of the plan will depend on other countries coming on board.

They say reforming trade rules and tackling trade barriers would be more effective in raising cash for poor countries in the long term.