The world had a shared calling to lift people from poverty and support long-term sustainable development, a task that was growing more urgent each day amid high food and energy prices and widening inequities between and within countries, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Economic and Social Council today, as he launched the Third Development Cooperation Forum.

 

In tackling such entrenched problems, Governments alone could not get the job done, said Mr. Ban. “We need the active involvement and support of all major groups of civil society.” As donors and partnerships continued to diversify, so, too, must the development architecture. Developing countries were helping each other through South-South cooperation, introducing new approaches that were quickly delivered and carried light procedural requirements.