Top-level meet: No country on track with Millennium Development Goals

MANILA, Philippines – The two-day high-level conference among 43 countries in Asia and Europe yesterday came to the conclusion that no country is on track with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) even countries that performed well on poverty alleviation.

Despite the uneven progress in achieving MDG targets, Koos Richelle, European Commission director general of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office, said at the closing of the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Development Conference at the Mandarin Hotel that the European Commission and other countries that participated in the conference are not in favor of moving the 2015 target for MDG attainment that may be affected by the crisis.

 “In this particular meeting, we were not fighting with each other to see you are guilty and you are the good guy. That is not the essence of this meeting. We just have to come to the conclusion that there is no one country that is on track with all the MDGs,” Richelle said in a press conference.

 “No one country is on track with all the MDGs. Even countries did perform well on poverty sometimes there are problems with other MDGs,” he added.

In the joint chairman’s statement of the ASEM Development Conference – Towards Sustainable Development, it said that participants acknowledged the progress being made in Asia in achieving poverty reduction MDG target, whilst at the same time noting progress was not the same for all MDGs, nor for all countries.

Participants also noted the inter-related nature of different MDGs, suggesting that they should be seen as part of a broad initiative to reduce poverty in all its dimensions.

They also discussed the way in which the current economic crisis could jeopardize the MDG objectives, bringing into focus the need to protect social budgets, including an emphasis on governance and improving efficiency and effectiveness.

It was emphasized that it is the primary responsibility of each country to achieve its own development, complemented by an enabling international environment for development.

It was also emphasized that international cooperation plays a key role in meeting the MDG targets of developing countries. At the same time country level-programs for achieving MDGs, which take into account the country-specific circumstances, have a critical role to play.

When asked about moving the target of MDG attainment, Richelle said “I do not like it.”

 “It is a source of inspiration. Since it was introduced, governments started to formulate their own policy and making money to realize it that it can be fulfilled. And we should not diminish this source of inspiration,” Richelle said. “It is already bad enough if only half of the people we identified will be saved in 2015. Let us see where we get but let us not try moving the target further away. That would be a bad signal for the population and the world.”

In October, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed serious concern over the implementation process of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) because it may be affected by the current financial crisis.

Ban said he was deeply concerned about the possible impact of this global financial crisis which may affect overall development programs and agenda like the MDGs, food prices and common efforts to address climate change.

He urged world leaders, especially from developed countries to continue helping developing countries achieve MDG targets. –Pia Lee-Brago, Philippine Star