UN General Assembly
2006

forward for our debate is that it gives us yet another opportunity to reflect on issues that we have dealt with in the past in seeking solutions for the remaining challenges imposed by underdevelopment. It also lends itself to a debate of at least three important issues related to the problem of underdevelopment. The first is that no country alone, however resourceful it may be, can successfully overcome these challenges on its own, at least not in the medium term, because these are challenges noted for their complexity and interrelationships with other global problems and phenomena. The second point that can be inferred from this theme is that, while underdevelopment can be attributed to or identified with a given country, its consequences transcend national borders. They go beyond geographical boundaries to, on the one hand, affect national security and demography in other countries and, on the other, raise moral obligations of new dimensions, as well as material challenges in other societies. The third issue relates to a static view of poverty. The poor need to regain their self-confidence so that,