Global Poverty: How Will America Respond?

Transcript

MS. LAEL BRAINARD: In March of last year President Bush announced in the context of a UN Summit his intention to create a new account that would over three years rise to $5 billion annually, and that in itself is a very large and important increase, something like doubling of current U.S. bilateral development assistance.

Subsequent to that the Administration also announced that they would create a new agency to administer this fund and that the purpose of it would be to underwrite strategies in countries that are ruling justly, investing in people, and encouraging economic freedom.

At Brookings and at the Center for Global Development we're collaborators in this, across the street. We recognize this as an important opportunity, the kind of opportunity that comes along perhaps once every one or two decades.

Because of that we assembled a group of scholars that are really multidisciplinary to look at these issues. The people that you see before you span the spectrum. We've got experience in programs and policy. People on the panel have worked in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia, and have worked throughout the U.S. government in the international financial institutions and also in the private sector and for NGOs. So we bring a lot of different perspectives to this work.

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