A/RES/55/216 2000, section VII of the United Nations Millennium Declaration 4 on meeting the special needs of Africa, the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council to be held in July 2001, as well as other events on development that will address issues of particular importance for Africa, such as the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries to be hosted by the European Union in Brussels in May 2001, the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS scheduled for June 2001, the high-level international intergovernmental event on financing for development and the ten-year review of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Welcoming also the strong partnership between European Union and African countries through the Cairo Declaration and Plan of Action, 5 as well as the Cotonou Agreement of 23 June 2000, 6 with its financial commitments, between the members of the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, which is mainly composed of African countries, Welcoming further the support by the international community, including the Beijing Declaration and Programme for China-Africa Cooperation in Economic and Social Development, adopted by the China-Africa Cooperation Forum on 12 October 2000, the United States of America Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, as well as the Ministerial Conference of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development on the follow-up of the implementation of the Tokyo Agenda for Action, 7 scheduled for 2001 or early 2002, Taking note with great concern of the debt burden of many African countries, as debt servicing continues to drain the limited resources for development, Reaffirming the need for the integration of African countries into the international trading system by highlighting the importance of creating, at the national and international levels, an environment that is conducive to attracting foreign direct investment and promoting international trade as engines of growth and development, Expressing its concern at the overall declining trends of resource flows to Africa, in particular the low levels of foreign direct investment and official development assistance, which have seriously constrained, among other things, the timely implementation of the New Agenda, Recognizing the crucial need for a substantial increase in financial resource flows to Africa to support the implementation of development activities of African countries, 1. Takes note with appreciation of the progress report of the SecretaryGeneral on the implementation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s and its addendum on the mobilization of additional resources for African development, a study on overall resource flows to Africa; 1 2. Recognizes and calls for further broadening and strengthening of efforts by many African countries to enhance progress in areas covering economic reforms, including the putting in place of sound macroeconomic policies, promotion of the 4 See resolution 55/2. A/54/855-E/2000/44, annexes I and II. 6 See www.acpsec.org. 7 A/53/559-S/1998/1015, annex I. 5 2