recognition and increasing meetings involving the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions, the WTO and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the systems remained incoherent. The Group had called for greater coordination among international institutions dealing with development, finance, monetary and trade issues to promote coherence in policies, with a view to making them more development-oriented. It had also called for action to deal with global systemic imbalances in such areas as trade and finance and reform of the global financial architecture.

LUIS ERNESTO DERBEZ BAUTISTA, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mexico, emphasized the importance of linking the Millennium Development Goals with development financing mechanisms that had emerged from the Monterrey Conference, which would enhance coherence between national development strategies and global economic processes. Such awell as plans to alleviate poverty, strengthen democracy, and enhance human rights.

The world needed a strong United Nations to advance towards the Millennium Goals, he continued. It could not throw away an historic opportunity to strengthen and reinvigorate the Organization, which would not only be irresponsible, but dangerous. Stressing that the current year was vital for the Organization’s future, he said Member States must adopt a new international architecture capable of responding to peoples’ demands for development and security through dialogue and building consensus.

ULLA TØRNÆS, Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark, said that, in Monterrey a compact was forged between rich and poor countries. Many countries had announced increased contributions for financing development. Highlighting the situation of the world today, she noted that four out of 10 Africans