Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of Unctad, addressed delegates at the sixth PrepCom meeting. He said a great deal needed to be done to improve governance and coherence in order to promote real interdependence among the countries of the world.

"One of the lessons of the September 11th attacks was that the world was, for better or for worse, increasingly interdependent," Ricupero said. "The same recipes should be available to all countries."

Ricupero said many countries were unable to respond quickly enough to offer any assistance because they lacked "necessary mechanisms and infrastructure." He also said that many developed countries had to ability to help out affected industries within their economies after the attacks. Many developing countries were not capable of doing that.

"Monterrey should set the general direction in which to move in order to make the necessary improvements," he said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations development Fund for Women, (Unifem) said women's concerns were "slowly" being considered at the international level and said any discussion of the issues related to financing development should answer the question of, "What kind of development is being financed and for whom?"

Unifem called for the adoption and implementation of a gender-sensitive conceptual framework of human and sustainable development by international organizations and governing bodies, particularly the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

According to a document entitled, "The Gender Dimensions of the Financing for Development Agenda" released by Unifem and written by Maria Floro, strategies like mircocredit and microfinance have become popular for addressing women's poverty.

Microcredit is the financial practice of making small loans to poor people to start up their own businesses. Typically, those loans are given to women.

Although Floro admits that microcredit loans have helped women to avoid high interest loans or loan sharks, microcredit programs require a more gender-sensitive approach in programming and management so that they do not undermine women's empowerment.

"It is important to avoid implementing credit programs that reinforce stereotypical notions of 'feminine tasks or roles,'" the document reads, "and that tend to keep women subordinate within households and communities.

"Microcredit programs can also trap women in a 'micro-finance ghetto' and risk constraining them unless they develop specific mechanisms for promoting women's empowerment and for making their staff more gender sensitive."

How these issues, and more, will be addressed will be seen in the final draft outcome of the PrepCom.