June 3, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1424

ADDIS ABABA: Poverty and the AIDS pandemic remain two of the greatest challenges facing Africa, the continent’s ministers of finance planning and development heard on Sunday.

Some 500 delegates attended the day-long conference convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) which coincides with the opening of the Group of Eight summit of industrial nations in Evian, France. G8 leaders have said one of their main focal points will be African development.

In Ethiopia, the conference was considering recommendations made by an expert committee covering key challenges facing the continent. The panel had urged the conference to call for international solidarity to address poverty and tackle the AIDS problem.

“With close to half the population of Africa living on less than one dollar a day, poverty remains a daunting task,” said the expert committee.

The number of people living below the poverty line was projected to rise from 302 million in 1998, to between 361 million and 426 million by 2015, casting doubt on the ability of the continent to achieve its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving poverty by 2015.

Several delegates spoke against past and present International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies towards Africa particularly on debt relief and the slow pace of implementing the HIPC Initiative — relief for highly indebted poor countries.—dpa