Koffi Esaw, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Togo, said that the high-level debates and discussions throughout the past week on Africa's development and the Millennium Development Goals had proven the need for immediate and effective international aid to help eradicate global poverty and help Africa achieve sustainable development. The failure of the World Trade Organization's Doha Round had not helped the current state of affairs and, without a positive resolution to those talks, the situation would likely continue to deteriorate.
If the developing world was to achieve its development objectives, the international community -- specifically the most developed countries -- must finally make good on its Millennium commitments, he continued. At the same time, however, new challenges had been added to the long list of those already facing the international community. The rising cost of oil combined with the increase in food prices would likely have disastrous consequences if aid was not mobilized immediately to bolster the agricultural sectors of many developing countries, particularly in terms of agricultural infrastructure and irrigation.
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