..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 1 March 2007
Press Release No. G/02/2007

UN/ADB OPEN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORUM WITH CALL TO TACKLE INEQUALITIES IN EAST, SOUTH-EAST ASIA

Delegates to craft ‘road map’ to achieving UN development goals

Hanoi (United Nations Information Services Bangkok) - A regional development forum, sponsored by the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank, opened today in Hanoi, Viet Nam, with a call for East and South-East Asian governments to tackle inequalities both within and across borders in region.

While many East and South-East Asian countries have made tremendous progress in reducing income poverty, the region's less developed countries and economies in transition still face difficult challenges in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Inequalities within some countries have also widened.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Kim Hak-Su, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), commended East and South-East for reducing abject poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and infant and maternal mortality – all MDG targets.

“All these achievements have been possible due to the combination of high and sustained economic growth with prudent public investments in basic services,” Mr. Kim said.

At the same time, he cautioned that income inequality and HIV/AIDS infection are rising in some countries, and the proportion of people with access to safe drinking water is decreasing in the urban areas.

“We are very glad to have this Forum in Viet Nam,” said David Lockwood, Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “As Mr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General has said, Viet Nam is a world leader in achieving MDGs. We believe Viet Nam has a good story and a lot of good experiences to share in this Forum.”

Mr. Bindu Lohani, Director-General, Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Asia Development Bank (ADB), told participants that one of the Forum’s objectives was for countries to develop practical Action Plans to ensure that they achieve the MDGs.

“If these plans are well developed and useful,” he said, “we would have taken important steps towards our goal.”

The East and South-East Asian MDG Forum brings together a unique mix of high level government officials, representatives of civil society, and the media to assess progress towards MDGs in the region, and to identify key remaining challenges. Participants are expected to produce an action plan for East and South-East Asia to meet the MDGs by 2015.

“It’s true that Viet Nam has shown great progress and leadership in human and economic development in East and South-East Asia,” said UN Resident Coordinator in Viet Nam, John Hendra. “But as with much of the region, the country faces many challenges to fully reach all the MDGs by 2015. We all must work to ensure equity triumphs over disparity, and that all people regardless of where they live, their ethnicity, gender or age, have equal rights and opportunities to live a full and productive life. The MDGs provide a coherent and measurable framework to help do so.”

The Forum is part of a tripartite MDG initiative by UNESCAP, UNDP and ADB. A South Asia regional forum was held in Nepal in October in 2006; a Central Asia Forum is being planned for later this year.

The MDGs were adopted by world leaders at the Millennium Summit in New York in 2000. The governments committed themselves to a series of development targets to be reached by 2015. There are eight MDGs - 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; and develop a global partnership for development.

For more information please contact:

Margaret Hanley, UN Information Services Bangkok
In Hanoi: +(84) 094 612 0650 (through 2 March); In Bangkok: +(66-2) 288-1862
Email: hanley@un.org

Nguyen Viet Lan, UN Viet Nam Communications Officer
(84-4) 822-4383, m: 091 443-6769 Email: nguyen.viet.lan@undp.org

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