MaximsNewsNetwork: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS SUMMIT - UN's BAN KI-MOON (UNTV)

MaximsNewsNetwork: 16 September 2010 -- UNTV: United Nations, New York - Just four days ahead of the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today launched a report prepared by the 2010 Millennium Development Goals Gap Task Force; the MDG Gap Task Force was created by the Secretary-General to improve monitoring of the global commitments contained in MDG 8, the Global Partnership for Development.

Ban said that this year's report focused largely "and necessarily" on the impact of the global economic crisis.

He said it showed that the "upheaval has caused further shortfalls on aid, trade and debt, and on affordable access to medicines and technology."

Although official development assistance (ODA) was at an all-time high, Ban said that there was a shortfall of $20 billion for commitments made for this year.

Ban explained that Africa accounted for eighty percent of that gap, and that translated into sixteen billion dollars. Ban added that "it is particularly distressing that the place of greatest need is also the place that accounts for the lion's share of the shortfall."

As a whole, the report painted a picture that should motivate world leaders to act with urgency at next week's Summit.

But Ban said that while the gaps were serious, "let us not be daunted by them. Despite setbacks, shortfalls and obstacles, we have the tools and the resources to achieve the goals by 2015."

The main purpose of the Task Force is to systematically track existing international commitments and to identify gaps and obstacles in their fulfilment at the international and country level in the areas of official development assistance, market access (trade), debt relief, access to essential medicines and new technologies.

The Task Force integrates more than 20 UN agencies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (UN/DESA) are the lead agencies in coordinating the work of the Task Force.

...... ( UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION: UNTV ) ... ..............................................................
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