United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged delegates attending the Third International Conference on financing for development to put aside what divides them and work together for the common good of humanity.

"Let us build on our shared vision of a sustainable world free from poverty and deliver a transformative outcome here in Addis," he said at the opening session.

The four-day meeting taking place in the Ethiopian capital brings together heads of state, finance ministers, representatives from bilateral and multilateral institutions alongside non-governmental organisations to discuss sources of finance for people-centered development. They are expected to launch a renewed global partnership to finance the post-2015 development agenda.

"Over the next few days, people around the world will be watching with great hope, let us not disappoint them,” Ban said.

Also addressing the session was the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, who cautioned that member states cannot end extreme poverty by continuing with business as usual: "We must be bold; we must be creative; form new partnerships and find new sources to meet our goals."

He said if countries invest strategically, "the more children we will educate, the more patients we will treat, the more vital services we will provide."

Kim told the audience in a packed room at the United Nations Conference Center that in order to end extreme poverty, world leaders must apply the knowledge they've accumulated over the years.

Recalling the devastating impact of the Ebola crisis in West Africa, he added: "We must prepare for the next pandemic; the outbreak has shown that the global community is woefully unprepared to fight pandemics. He enumerated specific actions to prevent another large-scale epidemic, among them ensuring that the World Health Organization becomes much stronger and having available a reserve of hundreds of millions and billions of dollars that will be ready within days, and not months."

The Addis conference, which ends on Thursday, is taking place under the theme, "Time for Global Action". Thousands of policymakers are deliberating in more than 200 side events their visions to end poverty, promote prosperity and protect the environment.

The meeting is the first financing for development conference to take place in Africa. The chairperson of the African Union Commission, South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, acknowledged that "we are far from creating a world free of hunger, disease and want, which is what sustainable development, is about".

She informed the gathering that Africa's 50-year vision, dubbed Agenda 2063, prioritizes investment in people. She particularly emphasized building the capacity of young people, who constitute more than 70 percent of the continent's population.

"Africa needs a skills revolution, especially in the sciences, technology, engineering and innovation. I know that there's been a lot of emphasis on the elimination of extreme poverty, but I think we should be ambitious and look at the elimination of poverty," the charismatic AU chairperson urged the delegates.