Global leaders and delegates met this week in Monterrey, Mexico to discuss how to improve international aid to developing countries. Topics for the U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development included current global trade measures and debt relief initiatives. World Vision representatives also attended to focus on debt relief and development assistance.

During the conference, the Bush administration clarified its financial commitment to international aid. Its original commitment was $5 billion over the three years between 2004 and 2006. Wednesday, it announced that it would steadily increase contributions so that the amount given in 2006 alone would total about $16 billion, $5 billion over the current level.

“We all can and must do more for the world’s poor,” said World Vision president Richard Stearns. “Not only to preserve our own security, but because it is the right thing to do.”

World Vision has worked with the poor for more than 50 years. It and other aid agencies have expressed increasing frustration with the apathy of some wealthy countries and the debilitating effects of globalization on the poor. Currently, the United States government spends less than 0.1 percent of its national income on international aid. The average developed country spends more than double that, and several countries have reached the U.N. goal of 0.7 percent.