Bush: don't turn inward due to financial crisis

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks at the White House Summit on International Development at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, October 21, 2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Tuesday said it would be a "serious mistake" to turn inward as a result of the global financial crisis and the United States must stay committed to helping the world's poor.

It was in the security, economic and moral interests of the United States to promote international development, he said at a White House summit on international development.

"We meet in the middle of a serious global financial crisis. Over the past few weeks, we have seen how the world's economies are more interconnected than ever before," Bush said.

"During times of economic crisis, some may be tempted to turn inward -- focusing on our problems here at home, while ignoring our interests around the world," Bush said. "This would be a serious mistake."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who spoke earlier at the conference, said that when times were hard, it was to be expected that states would focus on protecting their own interests, but countries must maintain their commitment to development aid.

"Reneging on our commitments to the world's poor cannot be an austerity measure," Rice told representatives of private aid groups, beneficiary countries and U.S. government officials.

She said she hoped whoever replaces Bush in January, either Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama, would sustain the U.S. aid commitment.

Bush said over the weekend that he would host the first in a series of global financial crisis summits as the world grapples with the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Since the Bush administration came to office in 2001, the United States had doubled development assistance to Latin America, quadrupled it to Africa and tripled it world wide, Rice said.

It also made over $7.5 billion in grants to developing countries through its Millennium Challenge Corporation program.

(Editing by Jackie Frank)