UNITED NATIONS: - With no relief in sight from record-high commodity prices and financial market fluctuations weighing heavily on the global economy, the Economic and Social Council has called for "urgent individual and collective actions to stem these risks and place the global economy on a firm sustainable foundation". The 54-member council, the economic arm of the United Nations, did so by adopting by consensus a Declaration as it concluded the high-level segment of its annual substantive session with Government ministers on Thursday night. ECOSOC assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development.                                                       PAKISTAN Pakistan was represented at the high-level session by its U.N. Ambassador Munir Akram who underscored the gravity of the parallel global crises " financial, food, energy, environment " afflicting many nations, especially the developing countries. "The challenges we confront are huge. The response of the international community must be commensurate. It will require bold leadership and bold decisions," he said in the course of his well-reasoned speech general debate. "History will record whether we, the Members of the United Nations, lived up to these challenges, or succumbed to them, through inertia and narrow and self-defeating self-interest," he added.                        CRITICAL JUNCTURE Under the terms of the Declaration, the ministers recognized that they were meeting "at a critical juncture in our efforts to realize [those goals], including the Millennium Development Goals".  They further recognized that all nations faced multiple development challenges because of current financial instability and uncertainty; slowing global economic growth; rising food and fuel prices; and the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change. "All of these challenges require early concerted action.  We are concerned about the negative impacts on sustainable economic growth and sustainable development, particularly in developing countries," the Declaration said.  It noted that the ministers, who have been meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York since Monday, were also concerned that the current global crises might further widen inequalities both among and within nations.                 EXTRAORDINARY DEBATE In closing remarks, Council President Lo Mrors of Haiti said the Council had come to the end of a truly groundbreaking high-level segment.  The Council had finally set in motion its new functions as mandated by the General Assembly in 2005.  The level and breadth of the engagement had been extraordinary.  From ministers and high-level officials to civil society and private sector participants, all had exhibited a "new wave of enthusiasm and determination". In his speech, the Pakistan ambassador said it was important to ensure that the response of the major industrial countries to the financial crisis facing their economies did not comprise a resort to a new protectionism against developing countries. Ambassador akram said Pakistan was disappointed that the G-8 communiqu appeared to have stepped away from the commitment made at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit to double ODA.  The Doha Review Conference on Financing for Development would provide an important opportunity to address the imbalances, inequities and contradictory policies that were at the root of the current financial turmoil. The Doha Conference should not merely review implementation of the Monterrey Consensus -" itself a depressing picture -" but also address challenges that had appeared in the last five years, he stressed.  It should first consider comprehensive reform of the international financial system and make a serious effort to restructure the global trading system. Further, he said, the Conference should address constraints on access to technology that was vital for development.  The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) agreement should be reviewed to ensure that it contributed to development rather than constraining it. Pakistan, Ambassador Akram said, also looked forward to a strategy to address the food crisis and an equitable approach to deal with energy prices.  In that pursuit, the United Nations must take the lead in generating the two most vital requirements: money and technology. On climate change, Akram said, developing countries could not be asked to consign their people to perpetual poverty.  They must be helped to create a climate-friendly development model, he said, adding that the challenges ahead were huge and the global community's response must be commensurate.