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CNN Live Today

President Bush Visits Mexico

Aired March 22, 2002 - 12:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As we mentioned, first stop in Mexico now, as we said, President Bush has spoken to a U.N. Poverty Summit. Kelly Wallace in Monterey traveling with the president where Mr. Bush spelled out a new approach to U.S. development aid.

Kelly, hello. Good afternoon.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you Bill. Sorry we are missing you while you are in Washington. You're exactly right, the president coming here to defend a somewhat controversial proposal. He wants to increase international aid, U.S. aid to the developing world from $10 billion a year to $15 billion a year. But he wants to make that aid conditional, that it would only go to countries enacting political, social, and economic reform. The president saying in a speech here that the old way is just giving money to poor countries without expecting reforms is not working. He said it's time to do something more difficult and more promising.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The lesson of our time is clear. When nations close their markets and opportunity is hoarded by a privileged few, no amount - no amount of development aid is ever enough.

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WALLACE: And the president is conveying that message to leaders he is meeting with including French President Jacque Chirac. Mr. Bush also tying this to the war on terror, saying, you know, poverty does not cause terrorism, but one way to stop terrorists from seizing on sales government and taking advantage of despair is by lifting up the developing world.

Bill, as you know, the administration, though, facing some criticism. There are those who say that the world's richest nation should be contributing much, much more. The president seemed to be trying to answer those critics saying that really we shouldn't have arbitrary targets, debate, though, for what rich nations should contribute. Again, he said we should tie it to reform. He said aid tied with reform lifts four times as many people out of poverty as the old way.

Bill, back to you. HEMMER: Kelly, when they talked about reform, how is that being received by some countries? What have they said?

WALLACE: Well there are some countries that are concerned about it. They are saying that there are some poor countries that need help and need help without conditions attached, and obviously there'll be a lot of attention to what those conditions will be. The president calling on Secretary of State Powell and Treasury Secretary O'Neill to come up with a criteria to use about how this aid should go forward.

There's a lot of praise, though, the administration increasing its number a bit, a 50-percent increase in aid to the developing world, so some praise for that. Some concerns, though, Bill, the administration is saying it will still help countries in need, but again, it wants to tie up some of that aid to economic and political reform -- Bill.

HEMMER: All right, Kelly, thank you. Kelly Wallace in Monterey, Mexico.

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