WORLD
UN CHIEF URGES WORLD LEADERS TO MEET MDGS AS SUMMIT OPENS IN NY
Baku, September 20 (AZERTAC). U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to reaffirm their commitments to drastically reducing global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years.
World leaders have gathered in New York for a three-day summit on ending global poverty, hunger and disease within the next five years. The secretary-general called on the international community to keep its promise to help the world`s most vulnerable people.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said when leaders agreed on the eight Millennium Development Goals during a summit in 2000, it was a great breakthrough.
"Together we created a blueprint for ending extreme poverty. We defined achievable targets and timetables," he said. "We established a framework that all partners, even those with different views have been able to embrace."
This week`s summit is intended to review progress, identify gaps and commit to concrete steps to reach the Millennium Development Goals on schedule. A document setting out specific actions on how to do that for each of the eight goals has already been agreed on and is expected to be adopted at the end of the summit.
The goals include eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.