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Prime Minister Stephen Harper addresses the Millennium Development Goals summit at the United Nations in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 21.MIKE SEGAR

Prime Minister Stephen Harper pressed world leaders to strive for concrete action in helping the world's poor at a United Nations summit, seizing the moment to pledge fresh funds to combat three deadly diseases.

Mr. Harper announced that Ottawa would increase its contribution to a global fund that fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Canada will donate $540-million to the fund between 2011 and 2013, which represents a 20-per-cent jump on its commitment of $450-million over the past three years.

Standing at the podium of the main UN chamber, Mr. Harper said that the world's wealthiest countries had to go beyond lofty promises. "We must get results. We must all be held accountable. And people in the developing world must see that we deliver on our word," he said.

To make fresh progress toward a broad set of anti-poverty targets, known as the Millennium Development Goals, leaders must forge "practical, durable solutions," he said, and maintain "a shared sense of responsibility."

The three-day summit now under way in New York is trying to get those targets - which aim to reduce hunger, disease and inequality by 2015 - back on track. So far, the world is falling short of meeting them, in some areas by a large margin.

Improving the health of mothers and children around the world are two of the objectives, which dovetail with Canada's recent push in the same areas at this summer's G8 summit. Mr. Harper said Canada would build on that initiative by marshalling resources from a wide variety of countries, private donors, and charitable foundations. "Together, I anticipate we will mobilize more than $10-billion over five years," he said.

Mr. Harper also used Canada's turn in the spotlight Tuesday to hammer home the message that nations must be more accountable for their aid promises. On that score, Canada has "a clean, open and transparent record," he said. "I am proud of what we have accomplished."

The pledge Tuesday to pump up Canada's funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria comes as the fund is seeking to replenish its coffers at a conference next month. A unique international collaboration, the fund has saved nearly five million lives in the past seven years, according to the UN, by providing medicines and insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

The increased money from Canada amounts to an additional $30-million a year. Under the rules set up at the G8 summit in June, 45 per cent of that additional spending on the Global Fund can be counted as part of Canada's new maternal and child health pledge to spend an extra $1.1-billion over five years, because combatting those diseases will save the lives of mothers and young children, as well as adults.

"It's always good to put more money into those kinds of diseases," said Philip Oxhorn, director of the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University. But if a portion of the funds announced today are counted under a prior promise, he said, then the commitment is only partly new, leaving the government open to criticism that it's fudging.

Mr. Harper flew in from Ottawa to deliver the seven-minute speech, switching between French and English, and received a round of applause from the half-full chamber when he finished. He returned to Canada Tuesday evening in order to participate in a key vote on the gun registry in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

He is scheduled to come back to New York on Thursday to address the opening session of the UN General Assembly and conduct bilateral meetings, part of Canada's push to secure a temporary seat on the Security Council in a vote in October.

With two speeches at the UN in a single week, Mr. Harper is paying assiduous attention to his international audience.

"The motives may be to win a seat on the Security Council, but that's not necessarily a bad motive either," Dr. Oxhorn said. "The whole point is that Canada wants to be a player."

With a report from Campbell Clark in Ottawa

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