America and Britain should join forces to end poverty: both nations "believe that peace and security are the foundation of any progress … that creating the right climate for economic growth … is the best way … to raise the finances needed to defeat poverty."

We have learned that preventing conflict is better than picking up the pieces afterwards. Doubters need look only as far as Darfur. We know that post-conflict countries have a 50% chance of starting fighting again within five years, so we need to work with them for more than just the short term. We have to build long-term stability as a foundation for future prosperity. This involves providing basic services like education and health care, and creating a sense of hope via good government, including through building institutions.

We must understand that if we ignore certain countries--failed states like Afghanistan, Liberia, and Somalia--they can become safe havens for terrorism. Quite frankly, we must work together better and I hope the Peace Building Commission will help us do that. We need to ensure that our agreement on "Responsibility to Protect" turns into a willingness to act. We have to do more to reduce the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. We need an International Arms Trade Treaty, and we must help continents like Africa build their own peacekeeping capacity. All of this will require a more effective United Nations.

The second challenge is to invest in helping developing countries build their own capacity. Our aid can help poor people go to school and stay healthy--both of which are vital to their economic development. Our support, however, needs to be long term and predictable if governments are to be able to invest in their people. Take education, for instance. The U.S. believes that education is the best investment a society can make, and I welcome First Lady Laura Bush's leadership on this issue.

Life-saving schools

Going to school saves lives--an African woman who does so is 50% more likely to have her child immunized. Being in school fights AIDS. In Swaziland, two-thirds of girls attending class are free of HIM but the reverse is true for those who don't. Education makes the economy grow--an extra year of education for a girl can raise her future income by 10 to 20%. The abolition of primary school fees in Kenya helped an additional 1,500,000 children into a classroom and, in Zambia, increased girls' enrollment from around two-thirds to over 80% in just two years. Burundi is the latest country to do it; 300,000 additional children turned up.

Political will backed by aid is making a difference. The UK has just committed to spend $15,000,000,000 over the next 10 years to support long-term education plans in poor countries. We expect at least 22 nations to have prepared plans by the end of this year, and they will be asking donors for help in funding them.

I think this is an issue on which the U.S. could lead the world, and is a perfect opportunity for the Millennium Challenge Account to provide major long-term funding. America could turn its "No Child Left Behind" campaign into a global initiative on behalf of the world's poorest children.

Third, we need to work in a way that helps build this capacity. It is a lack of capacity that is the biggest cause of death and the absence of school places. How much help we give and how we give it really do matter. With great power comes great responsibility, but 1 also believe that with great wealth should come great generosity. These are British values--seen most clearly when disaster strikes--and they are American values, too.