今年是联合国千年发展目标中期审评年。此时召开非洲发展高级别会议，有助于各方回顾对非洲发展承诺的落实情况，评估非洲发展的需求与挑战，帮助和推动非洲加快发展，具有特殊意义。

This year is the year of mid-term review of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is of special significance that we are having the high-level meeting on Africa's development needs at this time, as this will help all parties review the delivery of their commitments to Africa's development, evaluate Africa's development needs and challenges and offer assistance and support to the accelerated development of Africa.

当今世界，求和平、谋稳定、促发展是各国人民的共同心愿。然而，天下并不太平，传统热点依旧，新的冲突时有发生，恐怖威胁、疾病传播、环境恶化、贫富加剧等非传统安全问题日益突出。经济全球化给发展中国家带来机遇，也造成挑战。

In today's world, peace, stability and development are the shared aspiration of people of all countries. However, the world is not trouble-free. While traditional hotspot issues remain unresolved, new conflicts break out from time to time. Non-traditional security issues are growing more serious, including terrorist threats, spread of diseases, environmental degradation and widening income gaps. Economic globalization presents both opportunities and challenges to developing countries.

近年来，非洲和平安全形势不断改善，区域合作和 一体化进程稳步推进。非洲经济保持了较快增长，贸易条件有所改善，债务负担进一步减轻，政府治理能力不断加强。非洲发展的步伐正在加快，势头令人鼓舞。同 时，非洲在前进的道路上仍面临艰巨挑战：和平稳定局面亟待进一步巩固；农业基础和粮食安全有待继续加强；基础设施薄弱、发展资金匮乏、外债负担沉重影响着 投资环境的改善，制约着自主发展能力的提升；医疗卫生、文化教育等社会事业的严重滞后也阻碍着人民生活水平的提高。

In recent years, the peace and security situation in Africa has kept improving and steady progress has been made in regional cooperation and its integration process. Africa has maintained fairly rapid economic growth. Its terms of trade have improved, its debt burden eased further and its governance capacity strengthened. Africa is now showing an encouraging momentum of accelerated development. At the same time, Africa is still faced with daunting challenges on the way ahead. Its peace and stability need to be consolidated, and its agricultural basis and food security need to be strengthened. Its weak infrastructure, lack of development finance and heavy burden of external debt affect the improvement of its investment climate and independent development capacity. The serious shortfalls in social services such as health and medical care, culture and education also make it more difficult to improve people's living standards.