Many African nations will not meet the United Nations' poverty reduction goals in the face of high food prices and global financial turmoil, the continent's top diplomat warned on Tuesday.

In 2000, United Nations members set the Millennium Development Goals to reduce by half the number of people living on less than $1 a day, halve the number of people suffering from hunger and boost development aid by 2015.

"It is very sad to note that many African countries will not be able to achieve the MDGs by 2015 unless the food crisis is addressed," Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, told officials meeting in the Ethiopian capital.

"The current global financial crisis is also likely to adversely impact on African economies, including the price of food, foreign direct investment as well as export earnings."

In addition to reducing poverty and improving trade conditions, the goals focus on reducing child mortality, fighting diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and other problems that plague the developing world.

According to some estimates, around 100 million people may have been pushed back into poverty by sharp increase in food prices over the past year.

Ping was addressing a meeting in Addis Ababa aimed at improving cooperation between U.N. agencies and the African Union and other continental bodies like the Partnership for African Development and the African Development Bank.