G-8: Annan, Malloch Brown Appeal to Countries to Support Millennium Goals by Jim Wurst, UN Wire United Nations Foundation 5:22pm 1st Jun, 2003   30.5.2003    UNITED NATIONS -- Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.N. Development Program Administrator Mark Malloch Brown said yesterday that the leaders at next week's summit of the Group of Eight industrialized countries need to make fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals an important part of their agenda.    The goals -- which include halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, achieving universal primary education and reducing child mortality rates by two-thirds -- were adopted at the U.N. Millennium Summit in 2000.    "We want to stress that the G-8 can, by vigorous action, balance what it decides to do on Iraq and terrorism by an equally practical short-term agenda to get the world back on track to reach these goals," said Malloch Brown.    In a letter to the G-8 leaders released yesterday, Annan wrote that the summit should enable them "to set aside recent differences and give due priority to the issues of poverty and development." Those differences include a bitter division between France and Germany on one side and the United States and United Kingdom on the other regarding the war on Iraq. The other four members of the G-8 are Canada, Italy, Japan and Russia. Annan will attend the summit to be held next week in Evian, France.    Malloch Brown said at a press conference yesterday with Annan, "We have seen a growing global constituency focused on both the concept that your security is my security in a global sense, that your welfare is my welfare." He added, "Our appeal to G-8 leaders is not to lose sight of that."    Annan and Malloch Brown highlighted two immediate actions the leaders could take. Annan wrote that the deadlines of the Doha round of trade talks have been missed "and there is now a grave danger" that promises made on correcting "distortions … caused by subsidies and a variety of tariffs" on agricultural and pharmaceutical products will remain unmet.    "At a time of weak economic growth, when it is so important to restore confidence in the world economy, that would be a tragic outcome," he wrote. The Doha round of the World Trade Organization in November 2001 set goals for removing trade barriers, especially on agricultural goods and medicine, in order to stimulate the economies of developing countries. Doha must be placed "back on track," Malloch Brown said. "We've got to do a deal, particularly on agriculture," he added.    The second action would be to "double development assistance quickly," said Malloch Brown. Official development assistance (ODA) increased from $52.3 billion in 2001 to $57 billion in 2002, Annan wrote, "But even if the noble commitments announced in Monterrey are fulfilled, the total will still fall short of the $100 billion per year that will be required, at a minimum, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals." The International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, in March 2002 sought, and received, commitments for new funds to reach the goals.    Malloch Brown said that by 2006, it is expected that there will be an additional $16 to $17 billion of ODA on top of 2001's $52 billion. "We have broken the trend of declining ODA," he said. That is "enormously welcomed … but it's not enough," he said.    The $100 billion can be reached only "if there was an up front, year-by-year public investment in development through a doubling of ODA as quickly as possible," Malloch Brown added. "They have to come out of Evian with a road map as to how they quickly plan to double ODA," he said.    Annan listed two other necessary actions in his letter: addressing "Africa's deadly triad" of food security, HIV/AIDS and governance, and fulfilling pledges to improve access to safe water.    Malloch Brown said UNDP was distributing to the leaders a booklet on fulfilling the goals -- Progress, Reversals and Challenges. The booklet is drawn from the UNDP Human Development Report, due out in July, which will focus on the Millennium Development Goals, he said.    "The track record … is one of extraordinary progress as well as extraordinary challenges," Malloch Brown said. On the positive side, he said there have been "dramatic" cuts in poverty and increasing literacy in the developing world -- in particular in Latin America, where there is near 100 percent primary school enrollment. However, Malloch Brown added, there are also "huge challenges" -- in particular that there are now 54 countries poorer than they were10 years ago.    "The challenge of ensuring a more uniformed progress region by region towards these goals is dramatic," he added. "Our message is 'go the next step' because time is running out to reverse the trend before 2015," Malloch Brown said. "The investment has got to be now to show results five years from now."    1.6.2003 : ABC News Online.    Mbeki calls on G8 to make good on funding promises.    President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has called on the main industrialised countries to make good their commitments to Africa and the developing world.    Speaking in France on the eve of the G8 summit, Mr Mbeki says African nations are particularly unhappy about the lack of progress made on promises to extend debt relief.    "They have an obligation themselves to report at this summit at Evian, what they have done about the commitments that they made," President Mbeki said.    "We're keenly interested to hear what it is that they say."    President Mbeki is also calling for a cut in agricultural subsidies in the most developed economies and the establishment of a permanent African peacekeeping force. Visit the related web page
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