PRESIDENT BUSH, placing development in the context of his call for a “freer world”, issued a clarion call yesterday to “tear down the walls” between rich and poor nations.

The appeal — an unmistakable echo of President Reagan’s 1987 appeal to tear down the Berlin Wall — marked a new emphasis on development in American foreign policy.

Addressing a summit of 150 world leaders at the UN, Mr Bush sought to re-establish his credentials as a “compassionate conservative” after stinging criticism of his Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

“We need to give the citizens of the poorest nations the same ability to access the world economy that the people of wealthy nations have, so they can offer their goods and talents on the world market,” he said.

His speech marked a recognition, after the Gleneagles G8 summit in July, that economic development offers a safer world. “The lesson is clear. There can be no safety in looking away, or seeking the quiet life by ignoring the hardship and oppression of others,” he told the 191 General Assembly. “Either hope will spread, or violence will spread and we must take the side of hope.”

The US has come under fire recently for trying to back away from earlier commitments on aid. During negotiations on the summit declaration, the US delegation originally sought to delete references to the UN’s anti-poverty “millennium development goals” and to the aid target of 0.7 per cent of GNP.

But Mr Bush was unequivocal yesterday in proclaiming: “We are committed to the millennium development goals.” He also strongly reaffirmed the 2002 “Monterrey consensus”, which contained a commitment to make concrete efforts to reach the 0.7 per cent target in exchange for reforms by poor countries.

“Tying aid to reform is essential to eliminating poverty, but our work doesn’t end there,” he said.

Mr Bush argued that commitments on aid debt relief should be followed by agreements in the Doha round of trade talks to liberalise world trade. “The surest path to greater wealth is greater trade,” he said. “Our agenda for freer trade is part of our agenda for a freer world.”

Calling for the removal of agricultural subsidies that prevent poor nations from selling their produce, Mr Bush promised: “The United States is ready to eliminate all tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to free flow of goods and services as other nations do the same.”

Paul Wolfowitz, Mr Bush’s former Under-Secretary of Defence, told the summit in his new capacity as President of the World Bank that it was “time to deliver” on development. Mr Wolfowitz, a leading neoconservative who was nominated for his World Bank post by Mr Bush, echoed the US President’s call for industrialised nations to dismantle trade barriers and subsidies that hurt farmers and small businesses in poor countries.

“The responsibility for doing more and doing better cannot be left to the developing world alone,” Mr Wolfowitz said. “It demands more than high- profile summits. It demands urgent results.”

Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, told the world leaders that the future of billions of people depended on action to achieve the millennium development goals, which include halving poverty by the year 2015.

In a special session of the summit, world leaders devoted their attention to “financing for development” — following up on the Monterrey consensus.

Anti-poverty groups, present in force at the summit, repeated their warnings that the world was failing to meet the Millennium goals.

Nicola Reindorp, the head of Oxfam’s New York office, said that the US and EU would have to show a genuine willingness to make concessions and stop blaming each other if there was to be a “pro-development” outcome at ministerial trade talks to be held in Hong Kong in December.

“President Bush’s statement recognises the importance of trade and development. A successful development round will need the involvement and leadership of rich country leaders. To alleviate global poverty, trade negotiations need to focus on development needs rather than just transactions around commercial interests,” she said.

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