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New MDG Challenges Faced in Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus
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Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Working for Results in Income, Social and Environmental Poverty as well as Global Partnerships
World leaders at the September 2000 UN Millennium Summit agreed on the Millennium Declaration for accelerating democratization and securing peace, scaling up development and poverty reduction, ensuring environmental sustainability, and promoting global partnerships.
The development agenda was further elaborated in 2001 into the Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs are a set of time-bound and measurable targets for combating problems including poverty, hunger, disease, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
The MDGs are now at the heart of the global development agenda. For each goal, one or more targets have been set, mostly for 2015, using 1990 as a benchmark. Indicators have been identified to measure progress against each target. Each goal, with their respective targets and indicators, needs to be adjusted according to the specific country context.
The goals are:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
While the MDGs focus primarily on social and environmental results for poverty reduction, their achievement requires also investment in economic infrastructure, productive private sector-led employment, and good governance.
ADB - through its Enhanced Poverty Reduction Strategy - is committed to contributing to attainment of the MDGs in partner countries.
To monitor progress, raise awareness, help improve policies and institutions, and develop capacities for achieving the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific, ADB engaged in a regional MDG partnership with the United Nations Development Programme* (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific* (UN-ESCAP). The partnership also produces annual MDG Updates and sector specific reports for the region.
The commitment to larger freedom (towards development, security and human rights for all) was again confirmed at the 2005 World Summit in New York. On that occasion, the President of ADB in his Summit speech stressed the need to focus greater attention on the needs of the Asia and Pacific region.
| Do you know: Heads of state and governments met last week in New York to discuss the progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals half way through 2015. Experts are increasingly concerned that even the MDG 1 (halving income poverty) targets will not be met in most countries, except in the People's Republic of China. |
View ADB's knowledge products and operational expertise on supporting MDG related development results.
View the Millennium Development Goals Statistical Tables.
Read the summary on ADB's committment to the Millenium Development Goals.
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