United Nations: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has heralded 2010 as the year of development and asked the world leaders to accelerate the process to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) within the stipulated time frame.
"My message is simple. The MDGs are too big to fail. We need to focus attention and accelerate the process to achieve, to realise, the goals of the MDGs by the target year, 2015. We have only six years left before 2015," Ban told reporters here.
The UN chief pointed out that the Summit meeting in September this year would be used to "take stock" of the progress made in the past ten years and assess what needs to
be done to meet the deadline.
The world leaders set in 2000 the MDGs goals, which are -– end poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS,
environmental sustainability and global partnership.
"We will have to reaffirm our commitment to achieve these Millennium Development Goals: to alleviate abject poverty, to help people from preventable diseases, and to provide opportunities for primary education," he said.
Ban also stressed that 2010 would be a year to fulfill a number of other goals, including climate change, women`s equality, making a nuclear-free world, strengthening human
rights and the rule of law.
PTI
