Economic and Social Council: No name

With the world economy still reeling from the profound repercussions of the global economic crisis, which had rocked financial markets in the North and threatened to reverse recent gains in developing countries, the Economic and Social Council today examined the United Nations short- and long-term response, which was seen as critical to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

As the world continued to adjust to changed circumstances in the wake of the economic and financial crisis — sluggish economic growth, tight-fisted lenders and wary investors — a senior International Labour Organization official suggested at Headquarters today that Governments seize the opportunity to craft policy measures to boost incomes, create new jobs and provide broad social protection.

Improving global health required a life-cycle approach, providing essential health services in an integrated package that included maternal, newborn and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and adequate budgeting for HIV/AIDS and malaria, United Nations experts stressed today as the Economic and Social Council opened its coordination segment under the theme of “implementing the internationally agreed development goals and commitments in regard to global public health”.

Reaffirming the vital role of women as agents of development, the ministers and heads of delegations participating in the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council’s 2010 substantive session declared today that gender equality, empowerment of women, the full enjoyment of their human rights, and the eradication of poverty were essential to socio-economic development, including achievement of all of the Millennium Development Goals.

Hailing the expected creation today of “UN Women”, the agency that would become the focal point for all the world body’s activities towards ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment, the President of the Economic and Social Council said today that the move was clear recognition that women remained at the very heart of efforts to realize the Millennium Development Goals.

In parallel meetings today, the Economic and Social Council wrapped up its Annual Ministerial Review, spotlighting actions and progress aimed at achieving the global agenda on women’s issues, as it also began its general debate, which heard nearly 50 Government delegations outline their efforts to promote higher standards of living, full employment and socio-economic progress — particularly for women and girls — at home and abroad.

The Economic and Social Council today closed its second Development Cooperation Forum amid calls for a “desperately needed” road map to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and an understanding of areas where attaining the targets would have a multiplier effect, whether by investing in women and girls or supporting capacity for domestic resource allocation.

Amid what many speakers called a complex economic and financial climate, the Economic and Social Council today launched its second Development Cooperation Forum, built around multi-stakeholder dialogues covering various types of global development cooperation, aid allocation and effectiveness, and policy coherence.

While the Group of 20 (G-20) had been important in addressing the global financial crisis, after more than a decade in existence, it had not significantly addressed the challenges of poverty eradication, labour equality, and the environment, which remained necessary for sustainable development, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said at Headquarters today.

Tackling complex development issues required pragmatic decision-making, the President of the Economic and Social Council said today, challenging diplomats to come up with straightforward solutions to the need for higher standards of living and greater socio-economic progress, especially for women, as the 54-member body opened the high-Level segment of its 2010 substantive session.