Obama: US changing international aid goals

Barack Obama has told the United Nations that the US is changing its approach to development and would use diplomacy, trade, investment and other policies to help poorer countries instead of just giving them money.

"Put simply, the United States is changing the way we do business," Obama said as he announced the administration's new development policy in a speech at the outset of a three-day visit to the UN.

Obama said helping poorer countries prosper was good for the US, while the US also needed capable partners to deal with global problems as they arose. He added that the country also needed growing foreign economies for its exports.

For too long, Obama said, US policy had been defined by the amount of money spent and food and medicines delivered.

Obama said the US was also changing its view of the ultimate goal of development.

He said that some US aid had saved lives in the short term - such as food aid for millions of starving people around the world - but that it hadn't always improved those societies over the long term.

But he stressed that the US would continue leading the world as a provider of emergency assistance.