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An international gathering of political, financial, business and civil society leaders will take place in Monterrey, Mexico from March 18 to 22 to discuss ways and means of building a stable and more prosperous world economy. The occasion is the Internaitonal Conference on Financing for Development (Ffd) convened by the United Nations.

The meeting aims at promoting international cooperation in six areas that are of special significance to the world's developing and transition economies. They are mobilisation of economic resources; increasing the flow of private international investment; opening access to international markets on equitable terms; strengthening official development assistance; easing the debt burden on developing countries; streamlining financial structures and promoting participation of developing countries in internaitonal decision-making.

Ffd brings the United Nations together with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and representatives of civil society and business. Another distinctive feature of the Moneterrey meeting will be national representation at a high-level by finance and foreign ministries as well as by heads of state.

A set of vital development goals including the halving of extreme poverty by 2015 was agreed upon by 147 heads of state and government and 191 nations at the Millennium Summit in 2000. Without progress in the area of financial resources, these goals will remain on paper says, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Speaking recently on the importance of the Moneterrey Conference, he outlined key areas where progress should be made at the meeting:

* Support for the Millennium Development Goals through a reversal of the long-term decline in official development assistance - if possible, by doubling annual ODA from $50 to $100 billion within two or three years, so as to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015;

* A strengthened consensus on policies needed within the developing countries to mobilise resources, improve domestic financial institutions and attract foreign investment;

* Agreement in favour of a comprehensive international convention against corruption;

* Continuation of the momentum achieved in Doha, where a new agenda for trade negotiations was agreed;

* Commitment to implement and extend the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative and to deal with middle-income country debt crises, including through new ways to resolve sovereign country debt crises;

* Expansion of the representation of developing countries in global economic management.

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