WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Rich countries are failing to live up to their promises to boost aid to Africa and open up their markets to African exports, the World Bank said ahead of this week's G8 meeting.

The summit at the Heiligendamm resort on Germany's Baltic Sea coast will bring together the leaders of the world's most industrialized countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Two years ago at a much-trumpeted summit hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Gleneagles, Scotland, G8 leaders vowed to boost annual aid to Africa to 50 billion dollars a year by 2010. But the World Bank said in statement released Sunday that despite the pledges "foreign assistance for development programs in many African countries remains essentially flat."

"Many donor countries have increased support for special humanitarian assistance and debt reduction over four decades, but unfortunately this does not translate into additional resources for African countries to rebuild their infrastructure, train teachers and combat HIV/AIDs and malaria," said John Page, the bank's chief economist for Africa.

In contrast however, many African nations had made progress in improving governance and boosting prospects for investment.

"The question is less whether the Africa partners are delivering on their promises, but whether the wealthy industrial nations are honoring theirs," Page added.

Excluding debt relief and emergency food aid, help to sub-Saharan Africa fell by 2.1 percent in real terms from 2004 to 2005, the World Bank said.

Estimates from the bank's 2007 Global Development Finance, showed that net official flows of aid dropped to 35.1 billion dollars in 2006 from 35.8 billion the previous year.

"African countries that have posted a solid record of economic growth and have established macroeconomic stability through years of reform, have seen little or no increases in donor resources for financing development," Page said.

"Many of these countries despite the recent history of growth need external help to rehabilitate roads, extend access to electricity and improve education and health systems," he added.