British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged governments, businesses and volunteer groups on Tuesday to unite in a show of "people power" to put the world back on track toward slashing extreme poverty by 2015.
Brown's call for a new drive to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals was endorsed by 12 world leaders and 20 top businessmen and women.
His speech at U.N. headquarters demonstrated a belief in international cooperation to tackle poverty, a day after he held his first talks at Camp David with U.S. President George W. Bush, focusing on more contentious issues such as Iraq.
Brown described a "development emergency" as the world falls behind the U.N. targets for transforming the lives of billions of people in poor countries.
"The goals the world has set are not being met ... and we need emergency action if we are to meet them," Brown said, watched by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Governments, the private sector, civil society and faith groups should join in a global initiative to accelerate progress, he said.
Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister in June, called the broad alliance he was seeking "people power."
He urged agreement this year on a global trade deal that delivers for the poor and for agreement on the outline of a bold plan to counter climate change.
Brown launched his initiative a month after a progress report found most of the Millennium Development Goals were far from being met.
