UNITED NATIONS, April 14: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday called on the industrialized nations to increase the level of overseas development assistance for the developing world, stressing that the commitments made last year had not been kept.

Addressing the United Nations Economic and Social Council meeting, he urged closer coordination between the Bretton Woods institutions, the industrialized and the developing world.

Pointing out that the International Development Assistance Programme (IDA) set up to help the developing world has a $50 billion gap, Mr Aziz urged quick measures to fund the programme.

Underscoring that the developing world needs greater market access to the industrialized world, he noted that the agreements made at the World Trade Organization meeting in Doha (Qatar) last year had not been implemented.

“The developing world needs to sell its agricultural products without competing with the subsidized exports from the developed world,” Mr Aziz stressed.

Speaking on behalf of the developing world, Pakistan’s finance minister said that each country must have a clear vision of where they are going over the next 5 to 10 years, adding that a “good governance is a prerequisite to get the job done.”

He said the economic and structural reforms introduced by Pakistan over the last two years “have begun to show results”, emphasizing that the ownership of the home-grown reforms agenda by local governments was essential.