UN General Assembly
2004

increasing our aid to developing nations that expand economic freedom and invest in the education and health of their own people. Because we believe in human dignity, the United States and many other nations have acted to lift the crushing burden of debt that limits the growth of developing economies and holds millions of people in poverty. Since those efforts began in 1996, poor countries with the heaviest debt burdens have received more than $30 billion of relief. And to prevent the build-up of future debt, my country and other nations have agreed that international financial institutions should increasingly provide new aid in the form of grants rather than loans. Because we believe in human dignity, the world must have more effective means to stabilize regions in turmoil and to halt religious violence and ethnic cleansing. We must create permanent capabilities to respond to future crises. The United States and Italy have proposed a Global Peace Operations Initiative. Group of Eight (G-8) countries will train 75,000 peacekeepers — initially from Africa — so they can conduct operations