Home » Doha Declaration on Financing for Development (pdf, 138kb) » Message from the President » Fact Sheet: United States Commitment to the 2002 Monterrey Consensus » Frequently-Asked Questions » The United States Record » The United States Commitment to the Millennium Development Goals » The United States Commitment to Aid Effectiveness »
	11/28/08: Remarks by Henrietta Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, Doha Financing for Development International Conference - "Assessing the Global Financial System and Next Steps for Ensuring Stable Financial Flows for Development" 11/15/08: Declaration of the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy 10/21/08: President Bush Attends White House Summit on International Development 10/21/08: Remarks by Secretary Condoleezza Rice from the White House Summit on International Development: Sustaining the New Era 10/21/08: Opening Remarks by USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore at the White House Summit on International Development 11/12/08: White House Press Briefing by Daniel Price and David McCormick on the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy 03/22/02: President Outlines U.S. Plan to Help World's Poor: Remarks by the President at United Nations Financing for Development Conference
	Department of State Department of the Treasury The White House United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN)
	Advanced search... Search USAID Personnel... Search USAID Documents...

Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the U.S. objectives?

• In the nearly seven years since the Monterrey Consensus was reached, much has been accomplished toward the shared goals expressed there. The Doha gathering offers all participants the opportunity to reinforce the principles of the Monterrey Consensus and advance its implementation.
• The U.S. has taken bold steps to implement Monterrey, and will be taking the opportunity in Doha to discuss those steps, including:
  • pursuing a Total Economic Engagement approach to development, which uses our entire economic relationship (trade, investment, etc.) to support development;
  • more than doubling our foreign assistance from FY2001 to FY 2006; and
  • improving the effectiveness of our assistance through increased emphasis on working in partnership and achieving measurable results.
• The United States believes this follow-up conference must protect and promote the integrity of the original Monterrey Consensus, which represented an innovative and practical framework to pursue development that has helped sustain growth and diminish poverty.

Does the financial crisis require a rethink of the Monterrey Consensus?

• While the United States fully recognizes that the global financial crisis will have a negative impact on the economies of developing countries, we believe the Doha conference must reaffirm our collective partnership to an open trade and investment system, and the principles underlying the Monterrey Consensus, which have and will continue to lift individuals and countries out of poverty.
• Most recently during this month's G-20 Summit, the United States, in concert with the world's major economies, has taken decisive steps to respond to the financial crisis, and we are working closely with other major economies and the international financial institutions to prevent such a crisis from occurring again.
• The global financial crisis should not lead us to abandon free market capitalism or an open international trade and investment system. That system has provided unparallel prosperity - and poverty reduction - in the world economy.
• The Monterrey Consensus represents an essential foundation for economic growth and development. The financial crisis brings a new urgency to the commitments we all made at Monterrey, which an needed now more than ever.

Has the United States lived up to its Monterrey commitments?

• In Monterrey, President Bush pledged to increase U.S. development assistance (ODA) by 50% by 2006. That goal was reached three years early, with the U.S. more than doubling its development assistance by 2006.
• In addition, United States private resource flows to developing countries substantially exceeded all ODA provided by all donors in 2007. U.S. capital investments and credits ($99 billion), remittances ($48 billion), and private grants ($12 billion), totaled $159 billion - more than 1% of U.S. GDP in 2007.
• This $159 billion does not include trade flows. In 2007, U.S. merchandise imports from developing countries, not including China, were $641 billion. The U.S. has contributed $7.6 billion in assistance for trade capacity building since 2000.
• The U.S. and G8 partners have also promoted debt-relief initiatives which will remove over $110 billion in current and future debt service for 33 poor countries.

Will the U.S. continue to meet its commitments given the economic downturn?

• Yes. The U.S. will meet its development assistance commitments, while working to restore stability to the world economy. The U.S. will also meet its commitments to the poorest, including over $5.5 billion in 2008 and 2009 to increase food security.

Back to Top ^