U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week he was very concerned the economic slowdown and turmoil on Wall Street could have a negative impact on the ability of rich nations to help achieve United Nations goals to improve the lives of the poorest people who live on less than $1 a day.
Leaders were set to begin a week of meetings on Monday.
Before the U.S. financial meltdown rippled around the globe, Ban asked world leaders to arrive a day early for the annual ministerial meeting of the U.N. General Assembly to focus on Africa’s development needs — and to interrupt their speechmaking Thursday to make new commitments to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.
“We are experiencing a development emergency,” Ban said in an AP interview. “This is one of the triple crises that I have termed — climate change, development emergency, and global food crisis.
“This week, with the help of all world leaders, I would like to really mobilize necessary resources and galvanize political will to as high as possible as I can,” he said.
