NEW YORK, USA - Countries of Asia and the Pacific are at a crucial point in driving forward progress to cut hunger and poverty and achieve higher levels of health and education by 2015, according to a new report launched today at the start of a three-day summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at United Nations headquarters in New York.

“In the aftermath of the financial crisis, poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals should occupy centre stage of development strategies for countries in Asia and the Pacific,” said Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). “Lifting people out of poverty is an essential step in building domestic demand in Asia and sustaining global economic growth.”

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