Obama told a special U.N. summit that for too long progress in fighting poverty was measured by the sums spent to deliver food and medicine -- a practice that had saved lives in the short term but not always helped poor countries develop.
"We need more than just aid to unleash that change," Obama told the 192-nation General Assembly, advancing what he called a new U.S. global development policy. "We need to harness all the tools at our disposal -- from our diplomacy to our trade and investment policies."
Obama's 20-minute address emphasized points already made by leaders of several major Western economies, who have called for a results-based approach to aid instead of simply throwing money at development problems.
The new approach coincides with severe budget problems in many rich countries in the wake of the global financial crisis, but America's first president of African heritage -- his father was Kenyan -- said overall U.S. aid would not decline.
Saying America needed to be "big-hearted and hard-headed," he said Washington would seek partnership with countries that emphasized policies that promote economic growth and accountability and tackled corruption.
"Let's move beyond the old, narrow debate over how much money we're spending and let's instead focus on results -- whether we're actually making improvements in people's lives," said Obama, whose speech was greeted with lengthy applause.
The United States would also reach out to countries making the transition to democracy, and from war to peace, he said, adding that he hoped that would include Sudan.
International aid group Oxfam said Obama's speech had clarified the U.S. approach to fighting poverty. Several development experts had criticized the Obama administration for its lack of leadership on development issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment