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Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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4 June 2003
Press Release: G/05/2003
First ever regional MDG report
portrays a mixed/cautious picture
Promoting the Millennium Development Goals
BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services)
- Poverty reduction measures in the Asia-Pacific have been characterized
as a "striking success" but "missed opportunities",
according to the first United Nations report assessing the region's
progress towards achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs).
The report entitled Promoting the Millennium Development
Goals in Asia and the Pacific: Meeting the Challenges of Poverty
Reduction was launched in Bangkok today by Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive
Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and Mr. Robert England,
United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative.
The report states that, while the region has achieved
" one of the largest decreases in mass poverty in human
history", huge challenges still exist in the fields of
basic education, gender equality, child health, maternal mortality
and environmental sustainability. It also finds sharp contrasts
in the performance of individual countries in this vast and
diverse region.
Mr. Kim Hak-Su emphasized that the prime responsibility
for achieving the MDGs lies with individual countries, but he
said this report can help countries in the region to cooperate
and learn from each other about "success stories"
on swiftly reducing mass poverty, sustaining economic growth
and social change for achieving the MDGs.
Mr. England said that one of the emphases of the
Millennium Declaration and the MDG 8 is the call for partnerships,
not only at the national level between government, civil society
and private sector but for regional and international partnerships
that can promote human development and the attainment of the
MDGs.
The joint report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) serves as a basis for strong advocacy to the
region's governments, many of which will not reach several of
the targets contained in the MDGs by 2015.
The MDGs were agreed by world leaders at the United
Nations General Assembly in September 2000. They set specific
human development targets in the areas of poverty, education,
gender equality, health and the environment, all of which were
to be achieved by 2015.
The report identifies slow economic growth, declining
official development assistance (ODA) and uneven distribution
of income and unfavorable social conditions as some of the key
obstacles to reduce poverty and achieving other MDGs in Asia
and the Pacific.
The report argues that future progress towards
the MDGs in the region will rely heavily on its ability to foster
sustained economic growth. The report cautions that two-digit
growth rates witnessed in late 1980s and early 1990s may be
difficult to sustain in the coming years. Given that, the objective
should be diversified growth that fosters equity - combining
market-based incentives with "pro-poor" measures that
boost the capacity of the poor to take advantage of new opportunities,
while also ensuring adequate social protection for the most
vulnerable groups.
The report also finds that between 1990 and 2000,
assistance to the region from countries belonging to the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) fell from $14.34
billion to $14.15 billion. In particular, there are worrying
declines in flows to the least developed countries - a reduction
the report declares as "unacceptable and unconscionable".
In addition, the report calls for reforms in the
international trade system to help the poorest countries.
The report is unveiled at a time when the region
is still reeling from the economic backlash of war and communicable
diseases. Although many countries may fall short of the Millennium
Development Goals' targets, it says that there is still time
to make up lost ground. If countries are determined to pursue
an inclusive process of human development, and work with each
other and with international partners, then "most of the
Millennium Development Goals should still be well within reach".
For further information on the MDG Report, please
contact: Mr. Aynul Hasan, Chief, LDC Coordination Unit/Poverty
Centre, Office of the Executive Secretary, UNESCAP, United Nations
Building, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand, Tel:
(66) 02 288 1636, Fax: (66) 02 288 1090, E-mail: hasan.unescap@un.org
For more information on the Millennium Development
Goals, please visit http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm
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