These elements must all be made supportive of a more equitable and sustainable world, not inimical to it. Second, the relationship between industrial and developing countries needs to be redefined. Common interests and complementary needs of the rich and the poor, as well as global goals forged through the United Nations, must provide the basic rationale for new partnerships and compacts. Global challenges require cooperative, global solutions. We must attack the root causes of today's threats because we cannot afford to cope with the future tragic consequences of neglect.
Development assistance is an essential part of the cost-sharing needed for global compacts.
Third, a new development framework is needed to consolidate the emerging concept of sustainable human development. Too often, development cooperation has been shaped by short-term military, political and economic interests. Past aid has not, for the most part, been used for poverty eradication and human development. We must now ensure that scarce funds address the most pressing needs of people, particularly the poor, and we must reinforce this commitment by an unequivocal acknowledgment that freedom from poverty is a fundamental human right of all people. The challenges of growing poverty and widening inequity will not be met without democratization and good governance.