It was a banner year in 2005 for big speeches from global leaders about fighting third-world poverty. But if any of their promises are going to come close to being kept, 2006 must be a year of action.

The British PM, Tony Blair, called Africa’s poverty “the fundamental moral challenge of our generation.” The United Nations’ secretary general, Kofi Annan, spoke of a generation that could make poverty history. President Bush twice stood on the world stage and promised to sharply increase development assistance to poor nations. He did it first at the Group of 8 summit meeting in Scotland in July, when he pledged to double aid to Africa by 2010. He did it again two months later, at a United Nations meeting in New York, where he urged that the “Monterrey Consensus,” which calls on rich countries to increase their spending on development aid to 0.7 per cent of gross national product, be put into effect.

At last month’s WTO meeting, trade ministers from 149 countries agreed to eliminate export subsidies for farm products by 2013. The six million children under five who die every year of diseases that can be easily and cheaply treated do not need more lofty goals. Our resolution is to keep track of how many of last year’s promises turn into something more than words.