Despite the progress already achieved, many middle-income countries continued to face challenges to the alleviation of poverty and inequality, the improvement of trade competitiveness and the building of solid infrastructures, Merores added, urging greater international cooperation to help resolve those issues.

The high-level gathering focused on new and emerging issues, including financing of climate change responses, sustainability of financial markets, impact of trade on middle-income as well as least developed countries and -- in a mid-term year for the Millennium Development Goals -- identifying and mobilizing new resources for supporting development.

The meeting was held as a follow-up to the 2002 Financing for Development summit held in Monterrey, Mexico, and as preparation for a major inter-governmental development financing review which is to take place at the end of this year in Doha.

The Conference on Financing for Development in Doha will assess progress made in the areas of trade, aid, debt, international investment, domestic resources and the architecture of the international financial system.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2008)