- guardian.co.uk, Friday December 15 2000 18.44 GMT
President Bill Clinton used his last big foreign speech yesterday to focus on the plight of the developing world, especially the devastation caused by Aids and by climate change.
Mr Clinton, speaking at Warwick University at the end of his three day visit to Ireland and Britain, ran through a catalogue of problems facing the poorest countries, and said there was a wonderful opportunity to tackle these to create a century of peace and prosperity.
He hoped George W Bush, who during his campaign had been isolationist, would not turn the back on the world. He said: "For eight years, I have done what I could to lead my country down that [international] path. I think for the rest of our lives, we had all better stay on it."
The president's idealistic speech was well-received by an invited audience that ranged from the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, to academics such as Stephen Hawking. Joining him on the platform were Tony Blair, who had phoned Mr Bush to congratulate him, Hillary Clinton, daughter Chelsea and Mr Blair's wife, Cherie.
Mr Clinton, who has broken the presidential record for trips abroad while Mr Bush has only been out of the US six times, said that globalisation - and the creation of a global media village - meant "we can no longer have the excuse of ignorance. We can choose not to act, but we can no longer choose not to know."
He added: "Global poverty is a powderkeg, ignitable by our indifference."
Rejecting the maintenance of trade barriers, he pleaded with developed countries such as Britain and France, as well as the US, to help poorer nations by reducing, or even ending, subsidies to their own farmers.
"If the wealthiest countries ended our agricultural subsi dies, levelling the playing fields for the world's farmers, that alone could increase the income of developing countries by $20bn a year."
He urged the continuance of debt relief to the poorest countries and more cash from developed countries to help provide clean water supplies and tackle malnutrition and, above all, Aids.
Western countries should pay pharmaceutical companies, either directly or through tax credits, to develop vaccines since the poor could not pay for them.
He had little time for those who criticised the west for suggesting that computers were not a solution because electricity was in short supply in some developing countries and that the money should be spent on health or other pressing problems. It was a false choice: "There should not be a choice between Pentium and penicillin."
On global warming, he said: "This is a big deal." The last decade had been the hottest for a thousand years and there was a danger that the Florida Everglades could end up covered in water if no action was taken to cut down on greenhouse gases.
He expressed disappointment that the latest round of talks on the climate had failed and urged the developing world not to be suspicious of the proposed cuts in gas emissions, saying it should not be seen as an attempt by the rich to keep the poor in poverty. "We have to convince them that you can break the link between growing wealth and putting more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere."
Despite the rhetoric, Mr Clinton's administration has a mixed record on globalisation. Its record on aid to the developing world is poor, it is among the worst offenders in terms of greenhouse gases and its backing for the United Nations, especially peacekeeping operations, lukewarm.
