RIO DE JANEIRO - The international community, especially the developed nations, should honor their commitment to increase development aid for and help reduce the debt burden on least developed countries (LDCs), Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Thursday.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao speaks at a high-level meeting dedicated to LDCs on the sidelines of Rio+20 summit in Rio De Janeiro on Thursday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Speaking at a high-level meeting dedicated to LDCs on the sidelines of Rio+20 summit, Wen noted that the number of LDCs, currently put at 48 by the United Nations, has doubled from that of 40 years ago, and some 1.3 billion people are still living under the poverty line.

"It's a challenge we must face," said Wen, adding that these LDCs and their people have rarely shared the benefits brought by globalization and informatization and have continued to be impoverished and marginalized.

It's the common responsibility of the international community to help these nations, Wen said, calling for more efforts to promote South-South and South-North cooperation, and help the LDCs be integrated into economic globalization and narrow the "digital gap."

Meanwhile, the LDCs should also take economic development and improvement of people's livelihood as their most important and pressing task and actively seek a path of sustainable development that suits their own national conditions, Wen said.

Noting that supporting LDCs has been a long-term policy for China, Wen said that China will continue to assist these nations in their economic and social development as well as their sustainable growth.

At the end of his address, Wen expressed the belief that with the help of the international community and the efforts by the LDCs themselves, "we will surely get rid of poverty and create a better world of peace and affluence."

The sideline meeting was co-sponsored by Nepal, Turkey, Belgium and related UN agencies, and was attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the UN General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and other senior officials.