UN Regional Commissions discuss progress towards achieving the MDGs

Addis Ababa, 12 July 2007 - The five United Nations Regional Commissions (UN-ECE, UN-ESCAP, UN-ECLAC, UN-ECA and UN-ESCWA) held an interactive panel discussion, on 4 July 2007, on “Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals at regional levels and roadmaps” to highlight the current progress and future strategies for achieving the MDGs in each region.

The year 2007 marks the mid-point for meeting the targets set out for 2015, and all Regional Commissions stressed their commitment to promoting and supporting their Member States in reaching these goals. They also stressed the need to make the realization of MDGs not an end in itself, but more importantly, to lay the foundation for long-term sustainability in development in those countries.

The presentations of the Executive Secretaries offered a regional and comparative analysis on the trends of different countries and sub-regions for each of the eight goals. They presented region-specific challenges and outlined strategies for moving forward to ensure that “off track” countries are provided with necessary assistance.

The Executive Secretaries noted that although economic growth remains a key ingredient for meeting the MDGs, it is not sufficient. The empowerment of women, rural-urban inequities, the need for pro-poor policies, financing for development, inter-regional variations, and the scope for regional and inter-regional cooperation, were all topics discussed.

During the panel discussion, the Regional Commissions noted that they have repositioned themselves in order to address the specific regional needs and challenges for meeting the MDGs by 2015. ECA, in assessing some positive developments, noted that although income poverty has fallen slightly, inequality is still rising.

Moreover, growth rates remain too low for the majority of African countries and, at this pace, most countries will be unable to achieve all the MDGs by 2015. ECA also highlighted its initiative on knowledge management.

ESCAP presented its regional roadmap as a platform for countries that are lagging behind other Asian countries in terms of progress in meeting the MDGs. ESCWA stressed that four key challenges are hampering progress in the region including political instability, water scarcity, the demographic transition and gender inequities. ECE noted that the MDGs are particularly relevant to countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, and South East Europe but noted that ODA is not always targeted to the countries most in need. ECLAC graphically displayed that although the region as a whole is progressing well towards meeting the MDGs, inter-regional variation is striking and that attention should be paid to those countries which are falling behind.

The presentations of the Executive Secretaries were complemented by regional panelists including H.E. Mr. Iftekhar Chowdhury, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, H.E. Mr. Mekonnen Manyazewal, Minister of State for Finance & Economic Development of Ethiopia, H. E. Ms. Jadranka Kalmeta, Ambassador and Permanent Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations in Geneva, and H. E. Mr. Patrick I. Gomes, Ambassador of Guyana to the European Union, Brussels. The regional panelists offered a nuanced commentary on how the MDGs are understood regionally and thanked the Regional Commissions for supporting national and regional efforts in terms of analysis, programmatic activities, and monitoring.