March 29, Washington DC: Poverty in developing countries has been a pet theme in global conferences time and again. However, the recently concluded International Conference on Finance for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, with the participation of 171 countries, was more intensely focused on poverty than at any time before, as Sri Lankan Ambassador to US and Mexico, Dr. Warnasena Rasaputram, put it succinctly in his speech, "The problem of poverty has taken centre stage since the terrorist attacks of September 11."

Dr. Rasaputram, among 51 Heads of State who spoke at the Conference, was, however, the solitary voice that pleaded for action in the midst of volumes of well-meaning words.

"Sri Lanka welcomes the excellent report on the Panel of Experts and endorses the Monterrey Consensus. They give us hope and strength that the problems faced by developing countries in the path to eradication of poverty and rapid economic growth have been well-studied to the point of evolving an Action Plan to meet the challenges with a determined commitment."

Said Dr. Rasaputram, "Today, we have the opportunity to move forward, to act with firm commitment on the basis of shared responsibility to keep to the target of reducing poverty by half in 2015 and finally eliminating poverty 10 years later."

"Therefore, an Action Plan accepted by all countries of the UN, using inputs from all countries, has to be implemented with the highest degree of priority and urgency so that poverty can be eradicated by the year 2025. It must be remembered that this Action Plan is a contract between the developed and developing countries with the UN to keep to the performance criteria agreed by all countries."

"It is our hope that the IMF will develop an alliance among all players so that danger signals will be attended to forthwith by developing a strategic partnership with capital providers and securities commissions of countries. It is necessary that countries start with a clean slate about the volume of their debts. Poor countries who are unable to meet the debt burden may have part of the debt written off and aid programmes include a large grant element."