Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will try to take advantage of a focus on the United Nations on Tuesday to outline how he would promote development in countries that need it as he tries to get his campaign back on track.
Romney is to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York shortly before his opponent in the November 6 election, President Barack Obama, claims the bigger stage by addressing the United Nations General Assembly.
The former Massachusetts governor, who has been sliding in polls in battleground states where the election will be decided, is attempting to return his campaign to solid ground with six weeks left of campaigning.
After his visit to New York, he will go on a two-day bus tour of Ohio, widely considered to be a state he must win.
He will be joined at a rally in Dayton by his vice presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, to try to recreate the energy for his campaign that the pair generated when he picked Ryan to join the ticket last month.
In New York, Romney will address a foundation begun by the popular former President Bill Clinton, whose speech at the Democratic National Convention this month helped Obama regain some momentum and gave him a bounce in support.
Romney will propose that the United States put a greater focus on using U.S. foreign assistance to encourage free enterprise as a way of creating jobs in the developing world.
According to his campaign, Romney will argue that much of U.S. development aid has had limited success at lifting people out of poverty and that U.S. foreign aid programs frequently have tried to supplant private enterprise.
“To be effective, our aid programs must leverage private investment and trade to foster environments conducive to job creation,” Romney will argue, according to his campaign.
He will propose a “prosperity pact” program that would use financial assistance to support development of free enterprise.
The United States has backed “micro-credit programs” for years to fund small loans to help entrepreneurs in developing nations create businesses. Bill Clinton was a prime advocate for these policies.
Romney would take that a step further to provide assistance to help medium-sized businesses develop and connect them to the global market.
(Reuters)
