President Paul Biya in his second statement at the ongoing sixty-fifth session of the UN General Assembly has regretted that, the UN resolve to reduce poverty by half worldwide by the year 2015 is apparently relegated to wishful thinking. The Cameroon leader in his statement wondered what must have gone wrong considering that more than one billion people still live in extreme poverty, the developmental gap between the rich nations of the north and the poor countries of the south continuous widening while the Developed Nations that had pledged to devote at least 0.7 percent of their GDPs to avert the worst suffer no reproach for their failure to act as promised.

In the face of this regrettable level of commitment by the developed countries, the results of the eight priority areas of the Millennium Development Goals have been disappointing and unsatisfactory, he remarked.

Recalling the financial crises whose upheavals in the financial markets contributed heavily to the economic slump, President Paul Biya deplored the protectionist tendencies responsible for the Developed Nations concentration on their developmental priorities despite the worsening situation in the poor and Underdeveloped Nations of the world.

Considering that the people of Africa have for years suffered the pangs of slavery, colonization, economic dependence, internal and external conflicts with negative effects on peace and development, the Community of nations ought to come out with a good plan that can alter the dreaded trends. Such a spirit, the Cameroon Head of State noted can enable the realization of the so much-talked of Marshal Plan.

It was his greatest wish that the final declaration that would be made at the end of the Summit would serve as genuine guide to redress the disturbing economic situation on the African Continent.

On security matters, President Paul Biya frankly regretted that Africa is the only continent without a permanent member of the Security Council. Worse, this continent, the Cameroon Leader again regretted, is an object of international relations as concerns problems of migratory flows, global warming, terrorism, and economic crises whereas the problems stem from elsewhere.

It was his keen desire that in appreciation African countries, like Cameroon, that have made significant progress in education, public finance, health and respect of human rights, be encouraged to continue thus rendering genuine the ongoing concern for global solidarity, peace and progress of mankind.