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Liberal Democrat conference has approved a policy motion on international development.
The motion calls on G8 nations to fulfil the pledges made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to increase aid levels by $50bn per year by 2010, including to Africa by $25bn.
It also proposes reform of the World Bank and the "international financial architecture".
Michael Moore, Lib Dem spokesman on international development, told the party's annual conference in Bournemouth:
"Over the last couple of years we have been increasingly focused on the impact of the recession across the UK.
"While that is right, we should also be paying attention to the developing world too, because if we are having it bad they are having it awfully."
Moore said that one in four of people on the planet now live below the poverty line "and look like they will be stuck there for some time to come".
All the main parties agree with the "headline" UN target of spending at least 0.7 per cent of gross national income on development assistance.
"With Labour looking at budgets, Douglas Alexander has to make sure that DfID's budget will be ring-fenced," Moore said.
"The Tories want to recycle their failed UK policies... we have got to be on our mettle."
He added: "We also have to answer some of those who say ‘why should we care?’
"I think there is a great deal of self-interest bound up in this too.
"Problems do not stay local for long," he said, citing migration, people trafficking, illegal drugs and climate change as areas where international co-operation is vital.
The policy motion approved by conference calls for a 'Gleneagles recovery plan' to realise the G8 pledges to increase official development assistance.
It also calls for a new funding mechanism for the World Food Programme to enhance its ability to respond to changing food security trends and decrease its reliance on emergency funding appeals.
The policy motion also seeks to prevent the actions of so-called 'vulture funds' and backs moves against money laundering and tax evasion "to tackle illicit capital flight from developing countries and to take action against tax havens".
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