The European Union and its 28 member states provide half of the official development aid in the world and two thirds of global humanitarian aid.
However, with only two years left to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, the Union has no choice but mobilize more efforts.
In the meantime, Europe is also looking into a common vision for the global development agenda after 2015.
To find out whether and how the Union wants to keep the leadership, Xinhua correspondent Miao Xiaojuan had an exclusive interview with EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in the studio of the European Commission.
As an experienced Latvian politician, Andris Piebalgs has hold key positions at both national and European levels. He served as the energy commissioner during the first Barroso commission and led the reform of Europe's energy system, for which he was honored "Eurocrat of the Year" by the Economist magazine in 2007.
