The United Nations kicked off a special high-level meeting on Monday to discuss how to better combat the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, with representatives calling for the international community to honor their pledges early this month in London and make great efforts to reform the current financial structure.

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon addresses a special high-level meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, on April 27, 2009. [Xinhua]

The Monday session is known as the special high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, which came just one day after the conclusion of the weekend spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

The conclave was also called in preparation for the special June 1-3 UN General Assembly session on the global financial crisis and its impact on development. It was held in the Economic and Social Council chamber at UN World Headquarters in New York and is to be followed up with consultations and another substantive meeting next month before the June 1 meeting.

'A full blown, global recession'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his opening address, warned that the global recession could become a major humanitarian and peace crisis. Ban said the financial and economic crisis had escalated into "a full blown, global recession" where "hundreds of millions of people are losing their jobs, their income and their ability to survive."