Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday praised China's aid programme in Africa as more effective and quicker than the aid spending of the European Union.

Speaking to officials of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, she called for EU nations to take a leaf out of China's book and its "very clear development aid policy" and coordinate their aid properly.

She said Chinese aid was partly guided by principles and purposes different from those of the EU, but it was more effective and the Chinese completed projects faster.

"If we intend the best for Africa, we have to coordinate our work in advance before we set to work," she said. That included extensive liaison with African recipients of aid.

She also called for greater African representation in the G20, the economic panel uniting industrialized and emerging economies. Currently only South Africa is in the G20.

She also appealed for transparency in the way multilateral aid organizations spend money. For example it was hard for donors to know how money given to a UN food programme was spent.

"A maze looks simple by comparison," she said.(dpa)