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UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on
Tuesday called for a “strong and sustained push” toward the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight anti-poverty
goals that UN member states have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.
The eight-point UN MDGs are: to
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary
education, promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, reduce
child mortality, improve maternal health, combat killer diseases
like HIV/AIDS, ensure environmental sustainability and create a
global coalition for development.
“More than halfway to 2015, the
MDG track record is mixed,” Ban told the opening session of a
General Assembly thematic debate on development.
Pointing to the “undeniable
progress” already made in comparison to the year 2000, Ban said
that “three million more children now survive each year; an
additional two million people receive treatment for AIDS; and
millions more children are in school.”
“Progress has also been made in
particular countries and regions in terms of access to primary
education, water and sanitation conditions and disease fighting,”
Ban said. “But despite the “real difference, we are falling
short of what I know we can do. Many countries remain off track.”
“The year 2008 should mark a
turning point in progress towards the MDGs,” Ban said, expressing
hope that a special high-level event on the MDGs on September 25 in
New York will “send a strong message that governments are ready to
rise to the financing for development challenge.”
--Xinhua
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