UN General Assembly
2006

right to the compassion and solidarity of Africa in particular, and of the international community as a whole. If current trends in the world continue, poor countries will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The reforms that are planned or that have already been introduced into our systems of governance, respect for the rules of democracy and respect for human rights are, 06-53341 30 unfortunately, insufficient to achieve the rates of growth essential to relaunch our economies. In our countries, the economic and financial situation depends on internal and external factors that we do not control. Protectionist measures and subsidies for agricultural products such as cotton, sugar and wheat seriously compromise the competitive capacity of our farmers. The absence of an agreement on the rules that should govern international trade and the lack of political will and of progress in the negotiations within the World Trade Organization are aggravating factors. We need to recognize that we are far from achieving the objectives set out in the Monterrey Consensus and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,