UN General Assembly
1995

Benin, of course, fully appreciates the international community‘s support for the developing countries, and particularly for Africa and the least-developed countries in general. However, the assistance provided is far from meeting either the needs or the expectations. I sincerely hope that the results of the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Mid-term Global Review of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least-developed Countries for the 1990s, which began here in New York on 26 September, will make it possible to overcome these shortcomings. I urge the international community to live up to its commitment to solidarity with Africa by contributing to the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s. At the high-level meetings of the Economic and Social Council held in Geneva from 4 to 6 July last, the international community reconfirmed its commitment to contribute effectively to the development of Africa and to the implementation of this New Agenda. It is therefore urgent — and this cannot be said often enough — to reduce the debt burden to a level that would