The United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development is held at the UN headquarters in New York, the US, June 24, 2009. The United Nations kicked off a three-day high-level meeting on Wednesday to assess the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. [Xinhua]

Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly, delivers remarks during the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development at the UN headquarters in New York, the US, June 24, 2009. The current financial and economic crisis, which has spread all over the world and negatively affected all countries, also provides an opportunity for the world to locate the problems and hammer out strategies for sustainable development, Brockmann said here on Wednesday. [Xinhua]