The Group of 20 (G20) countries agreed on Friday to strengthen their support for emerging and developing countries, reaffirming their commitments to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The G20 countries share a collective responsibility to "mitigate the social impact of the crisis and to assure that all parts of the globe participate in the recovery," said a Leaders' Statement issued after a two-day summit meeting of the world's major economies in Pittsburgh, the US state of Pennsylvania.

According to the statement, some emerging and developing countries, particularly the poorest ones, "have little economic cushion to protect vulnerable populations from calamity."

The G20, claiming that sustained funding and targeted investments are urgently needed to improve long-term food security, calls on the World Bank to work with interested donors and organizations to develop a multilateral trust fund to scale up agricultural assistance to low-income countries.

At the summit, the G20 leaders also agreed to promote the development of clean, affordable energy resources to the emerging and developing countries, and offer a "safe and sound" financial service to those countries.

"We reaffirm our historic commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals and our respective Official Development Assistance pledges, including commitments on Aid for Trade, debt relief, and those made at Gleneagles, especially to sub-Saharan Africa, to 2010 and beyond," said the statement.

(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2009)