A four-day UN-sponsored international conference on Financing for Development opened in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Saturday as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for confronting a development emergency and accelerating climate change.

Though the world is facing the financial crisis, "We also confront a development emergency and accelerating climate change," Ban told the meeting.

Leaders and delegates of 145 UN member states attended the conference under the scheme of "Addressing Common Concerns Through Renewed Cooperation."

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attended the meeting and spoke at the meeting, calling for "global solutions" to global crises.

"A global answer requires the presence of all regions in the world, representing the voice of the rich, the emerging and the poorest," he stressed.

The meeting marks the first step of UN, the world's largest inter-governmental institute, to mobilize worldwide resources to tame the crisis and increase rich countries' awareness of its repercussions on the developing counties.

Summoned by the UN chief on November 17, rightly after he took part in the summit of G20 in Washington on November 15, the conference is also invested with particular expectations to pave the way for the ensuing ministerial Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus from November 29 to December 2.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2008)