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UN chief calls for bold steps to meet development goals

03 June 2011 02:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday called on ministers from around the world to "act boldly" to meet the social and economic targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the deadline of 2015, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The agreed deadline of 2015 is fast approaching. We must live up to the promises we made at the turn of the millennium," the secretary-general said in a video message to an MDG meeting in Tokyo, Japan.

The MDGs, agreed upon in a General Assembly summit in 2000, set specific targets on poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/ AIDS reduction, and a "Global Partnership for Development."

"We do not have a moment to lose. We need to make greater strides towards balanced and sustainable development," he said. " To do this we need to act boldly and urgently by investing the resources we need to protect the gains we have made so far."

The UN Development Program (UNDP), the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF), the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are hosting the two-day, ministerial-level meeting in the Japanese capital, UN officials said here.

Participants include ministers, civil society representatives and development partner agencies, meeting to discuss initiatives to promote effective and practical measures to accelerate progress on the Goals between now and 2015, UNDP said.

Among the UN participants are UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, the officials said.