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

Date 26 February 2007
Media Advisory No. N/06/2007

EAST, SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS TO TACKLE ROAD BLOCKS TO DEVELOPMENT GOALS AT FORUM IN HANOI

Delegates expected to develop action plan to 2015 targets

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) – East and South-East Asia, two of the world’s most dynamic regions, are known to have made significant progress in achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite these advances, progress both within and between countries is marked by disparities and inequalities. None of the countries in the two regions are on track to meet all the goals by the target date of 2015.

To tackle the road blocks obstructing full achievement of the MDGs, UNESCAP will bring together more than 100 delegates from 12 countries at the East and South-East Asia MDG Forum, being held in Hanoi, Viet Nam, 1-2 March 2007.

Participants, who include high-ranking government Ministers, policy makers, representatives of civil society, business leaders, academics and the media, are expected to develop an action plan to eradicate extreme poverty and other ills by 2015.

A senior official from the Vietnamese Government will inaugurate the meeting.

Other Ministers expected to participate in the meeting include H.E. Ou Orhat, Secretary of State, Ministry of Planning, Cambodia; H.E. Bekhbat Khasbazar, Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mongolia; H.E. Mr. Park In-kook, Deputy Minister for Policy Planning and International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea; and H.E. Paiboon Wattanasiritham, Minister of Social Development and Human Security, Thailand.

Participants of note include Mr. Kim Hak-Su, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNESCAP Executive Secretary; Mr. David E. Lockwood, Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Asia-Pacific Regional Director, UN Development Programme (UNDP); and Mr. Bindu Lohani, Asian Development Bank Director-General, Regional and Sustainable Development Department. The meeting is organised under the auspices of the tripartite initiative between UNESCAP, UNDP, and ADB.

The MDGs are the world’s time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions– income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion – whilst promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability.

More information on the tripartite initiative is available at: www.mdgasiapacific.org .

Note to Editors:
You or your representatives are invited to attend the East and South-East Asian MDG Forum from 1-2 March 2007 at the Melia Hotel, Hanoi, Viet Nam. The opening ceremony will begin at 09:00 hrs on 1 March, followed by a press conference scheduled for 10:00-10.45 am.

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