British finance minister Mr Gordon Brown called today for the creation of an international development fund to bridge a $50 billion a year shortfall needed to meet global poverty reduction targets.
Financed by developed countries and international organisations such as the World Bank, the fund would form part of a global drive akin to the debt-relief campaign for the world's poorest nations, he said.
"Just as we got people together in the last few years on debt relief, I'm confident that we can get an international coalition, because this is actually a global campaign against poverty and for social justice," Mr Brown told BBC radio.
Mr Brown will make his proposal in a speech on globalisation to business and financial executives at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Treasury official told Reuters.
"Some people say the issue is whether we have globalisation or not. In fact, the issue is whether we manage globalisation well or badly, fairly or unfairly," Mr Brown will say.
Mr Brown, visiting New York en route to IMF/World Bank meetings in Ottawa at the weekend, will point to a recent UN report by former Mexican president Mr Ernesto Zedillo that says there is a $50 billion-a-year shortfall in funds to meet global povery reduction targets.
Leading industrialised nations have signed up to a commitment that states world poverty levels will have been halved by 2015, infant mortality rates will be cut by two thirds and there will be universal primary education.
The capital deposited in the fund could also be used to leverage additional cash on international capital markets, Mr Brown said.