MINISTERS ASKED TO ACT ON THEIR COMMITMENTS TO MEET MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

WHEN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL SESSION OPENS IN GENEVA

 

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 29 June (United Nations Information Service) -- At its high-level meeting in Geneva from 2 to 5 July, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will seek concrete commitments from ministers to lift millions out of poverty and hunger.

Realizing the Millennium Development Goals requires significant increases in the levels of commitment and the engagement of all actors if they are to be achieved within the agreed 2015 time frame.  The results to date demonstrate that the strategy embodied in the United Nations development agenda is working, but not yet on the scale required.  The message, therefore, is not only to keep the pace, but to accelerate implementation.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open the high-level segment.  The meeting will be addressed by high-profile figures, such as Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, Lithuania’s Prime Minister, Gediminas Kirkilas, and Bahrain’s Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy, World Bank Chief Economist Francois Bourguignon, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Kemal Derviş and Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Adviser to the Secretary-General for the Millennium Development Goals, will be among those participating in the high-level segment.

Goals still achievable

At their midpoint, the Millennium Development Goals remain achievable -- even in some of the most disadvantaged countries -- if existing commitments are met by Member States with a sense of urgency, according to United Nations reports prepared for the high-level segment.  No silver bullet exists for meeting the Goals, but to achieve them all countries require a combination of sound governance including good economic policies and public accountability, increased public investments in education, health, agriculture and infrastructure, improved quality of aid and debt relief and a development-friendly trade regime.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his report to ECOSOC, said that international policies should be geared towards supporting national efforts to promote inclusive pro-poor growth.  Globalization has subjected many economies to forces outside of their control, and the most fragile nations require support.  The report highlights the need for international and regional coordination of macroeconomic policies in order to create more stable conditions for growth.

The first ever Annual Ministerial Review will provide an opportunity to hear directly from Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Ethiopia and Ghana, which have volunteered to present their experiences in the implementation of their national development strategies to achieve the internationally agreed Goals.

The Council will consider new measures that will allow it to play, in a strengthened global partnership, a more authoritative role in addressing development issues, as well as determining how the United Nations development work can be enhanced to better confront development challenges.

The Council will use its new high-level forums, including the Annual Ministerial Review and the Development Cooperation Forum, to monitor the implementation of the Goals and other internationally agreed development goals, and to seek ways to ensure they are achieved.

Background on ECOSOC

ECOSOC coordinates the work of the 14 United Nations specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and 5 regional commissions, receives reports from 10 United Nations funds and programmes and issues policy recommendations to the United Nations system and to Member States.  The 54-member Council meets every year, alternating between New York and Geneva.  The President of this year’s Council is Ambassador DaliusČekuolis of Lithuania.

In addition to ministers and senior officials from Member States and United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, other delegates attending the talks will include the Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra K. Pachauri; the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Michel Kazatchkine; NEPAD Executive Head Firmino Mucavele; and United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Sha Zukang.

The Annual Ministerial Review seeks to advance and assess progress made in the implementation of the United Nations development agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals, as defined through a series of conferences and summits since the 1990s. The Review will serve as a high-level forum for political engagement and knowledge exchange, and aims to produce a ministerial declaration endorsed by all participants.

The Development Cooperation Forum will review trends and progress in international development cooperation and provide policy guidance and recommendations to promote effective international development cooperation. By identifying gaps and obstacles, the forum will make recommendations on practical measures and policy options to enhance coherence.

Media contacts:  Jon Herbertsson, United Nations Information Service at Geneva, tel: +41 22 917 4894, e-mail: jherbertsson@unog.ch; and Newton Kanhema, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel: +1 917 349 8454, e-mail: kanhema@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record