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22 Sep 2010

ESCWA Executive Secretary participates in the MDG summit

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World leaders are gathering in New York between 20 and 22 September to review progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a range of targets to fight poverty, hunger and disease set in 2000. Over three days, more than 130 heads of state and government are assessing what has been achieved and what is needed to meet the goals by the 2015 deadline. Speaking in the Regional Commissions’ Roundtable entitled “The Millennium Development Goals: A Decade of Achievements and Challenges at the Regional Level,” ESCWA Executive Secretary Bader AlDafa said: “The Arab region succeeded in reducing the proportion of the poorest of the poor, although the scale of success depends to some extent on the poverty measure applied.” The Arab region as a whole is on track with respect to halving the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day, he added. AlDafa noted another achievement for the region in the area of education, which is key to responding to the challenges set by the MDGs. “The average net enrolment ratio in primary education in the Arab States has increased. Total enrolment is steadily rising. Many Arab countries, including ESCWA members Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, Kuwait and Bahrain, are very close to achieving the goal of gender equality in primary education,” he said. However, AlDafa underlined some concerns that remain with regard to women’s political and economic empowerment and the slow progress in reducing mortality of children under five, in addition to the disparities on the issue of maternal health. Another downside he mentioned was that while the Arab region as a whole contributes with only five percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, the negative impacts of climate change on the region and the loss of biodiversity are significant. In addition, a number of Arab countries face the threat of depletion of their renewable and non-renewable water resources, despite progress made in improving access to water supply and sanitation services. The regional commission’s Executive Secretary finally remarked that partnerships are crucial to achieving environmental sustainability as well as international development. “Global challenges such as the financial and economic crisis in conjunction with region-specific challenges related to conflict and instability have hampered MDG progress. As long as the Arab region remains a conflict-afflicted area, progress towards the implementation of MDGs will continue to be slow despite all efforts made by governments to develop efficient strategies,” he said. He concluded that much remains to be done, if not by 2015 perhaps a little bit later. “A very important process has been started with the MDGs and should be continued.”
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