Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister addresses High-level Plenary Meeting on Millennium Development Goals

21 September 2010 14:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. â€œDespite the fact that Armenia continues to occupy 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories and about one million people have been displaced, Azerbaijan is committed to the complete and efficient implementation of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015,â€ Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in New York, Foreign Ministryâ€™s press service told APA. Elmar Mammadyarov underlined that the government was demonstrating political will and taking serious steps to eliminate the poverty. Minister said it was noted in the MDG report on the State Program on Elimination of Poverty and in the new State Program on Elimination of Poverty and on Sustainable Development. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister said the main goals of the program was the sustainable economic development, poverty reduction, improvement of living conditions of refugees and internally displaced persons, equal health and educational services for all, continuous control over the environment, gender equality.
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said certain reforms have been started for improvement of education at the Azerbaijani schools. The minister said secondary and high education of women, equality of pay and involvement of the women in the decision-making processes were important back-bones to reach MDG targets. He emphasized that the government of Azerbaijan takes serious measures to reduce child and maternal mortality in half until 2015. The minister spoke about the State Programs for Protection of Health of Children and Mothers, National Strategy for Healthy Growth, Social Development Programs in the Regions adopted in Azerbaijan and said child mortality was reduced 3.1% in the past five years.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov also stressed the measures take for prevention of spread of AIDS in Azerbaijan, elimination of malaria, prevention of tuberculosis and said National AIDS Prevention Center established in the country promoted the strengthening of public measures against AIDS.

In the end, Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said he believed this Plenary Meeting would contribute to the mobilization of the efforts of member countries for better future of the people and realizations of the UN development programs.