A/RES/60/209 39. Emphasizes the important contribution the observance of the International Year of Microcredit, 2005, has made in raising awareness of the importance of microcredit and microfinance in the eradication of poverty, in sharing good practices and in enhancing financial sectors that support sustainable financial services for the poor, and calls upon Member States, the United Nations system and other international organizations to consolidate and further build on the momentum created by the Year with a view to providing microcredit and microfinance services to the poor; 40. Recognizes the important contribution that the observance of the International Year of Rice, 2004, has made in drawing world attention to the role that rice can play in providing food security and eradicating poverty in the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals; Specific initiatives in the fight against poverty 41. Also recognizes the important potential contribution of the World Solidarity Fund to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the objective to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people living on less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger; 42. Resolves to operationalize the World Solidarity Fund established by the General Assembly, and invites Member States, international organizations, the private sector, relevant institutions, foundations and individuals in a position to do so to make voluntary contributions to the Fund; 43. Recalls that, in the Millennium Declaration,1 the Heads of State and Government, inter alia, identified solidarity as one of the fundamental and universal values that should underlie relations between peoples in the twenty-first century, and in that regard decides to proclaim 20 December of each year International Human Solidarity Day; 44. Invites Governments and relevant stakeholders to utilize entrepreneurship, taking fully into account national interests, priorities and development strategies, to contribute to poverty eradication; 45. Recognizes that natural disasters remain a major impediment to sustainable development and poverty eradication, and, in this regard, invites Member States, the United Nations system, including international financial institutions, regional bodies and international organizations, as well as relevant civil society organizations, to support, implement and follow up the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters, 15 adopted by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, from 18 to 22 January 2005; Africa, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States 46. Stresses, as recognized in the Millennium Declaration and reiterated in the 2005 World Summit Outcome, 2 the importance of meeting the special needs of Africa, where poverty remains a major challenge and where most countries have not _______________ 15 See A/CONF.206/6 and Corr.1, chap. I, resolution 2. 9