required continued improvements in governance, transparency and accountability. Developed and developing countries shared responsibilities to strengthen safeguards against corruption, increase transparency and take appropriate legal action when necessary.

Rapid scaling up of human development services was also critical to achieving human development goals, he said. Fourth was the need to accelerate growth for many developing countries, which required the dismantling of barriers to international trade and eliminating trade-distorting subsidies. The international community must aim for a successful Doha round. Finally, implementing those measures required substantial increases in the levels and effectiveness of aid. Those five core elements of a millennium development action programme were extremely challenging and demanding, but they could be done. Key to success would be both the reaffirmation of international commitment to the goals set outdevelopment Millennium Development Goals -- in education for all, primary health-care delivery and the war against HIV/AIDS and other major illnesses in the developing world. Third, effective international engagement with fragile States was essential for global security, as well as for the 500 million people who lived there. And finally, the World Bank remained fully committed to development financing and support for the broad development agenda in both middle-income and low-income countries.

FRANCISCO THOMPSON-FLORES, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization, said that trade was not the answer to all the world’s problems, and trade liberalization on its own was not enough to meet all the challenges faced by societies. But trade’s importance as a driver of growth was clear and a successful conclusion of the Doha round could