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Chinese premier attends UN summit on MDGs
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-26 00:20 UNITED NATIONS -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended the United Nations High-level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Thursday morning and gave a keynote speech on China's development objectives.
He promised that China will take a series of actions to help poor countries attain the Millennium Development Goals, including providing them with agricultural technology support and more food assistance. China will also "cancel the outstanding interest-free loans extended to least developed countries that mature before the end of 2008," he said. Convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the high-level event is aimed at generating future action to realize the MDGs by 2015. Representatives of some 150 countries, including more than 90 heads of state or government, are attending the meeting. This is the first summit-level gathering on the MDGs since September 2000, when world leaders committed to the goals laid out in the Millennium Declaration. World leaders have vowed to halve extreme poverty and improve the situation in eight areas including health, education, women's rights, environment, the protection of children and the establishment of a global development cooperation partnership. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday called for joint efforts from governments around the world to realize the goals set in the Millennium Declaration. "Counting from today, we have only seven years to go before the end of 2015 to reach the goals" of halving the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day, and "no more than 12 years before the end of 2020" to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, Wen said in his speech at the United Nations high-level meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "I hope that we, leaders present today, will join hands to shoulder greater responsibilities as statesmen and pay closer attention to and show more compassion for the poor regions and people in the world," he said. Wen emphasized the importance for governments to give top priority to development. The first and foremost development goal should be economic, with educational, cultural and social development also being high on the agenda, he said. He urged respect for the right of all countries to choose their own development paths suited to their national conditions, and called for efforts to resolve regional conflicts and ethnic strife through peaceful means. On international assistance in eliminating poverty, Wen said developed countries in particular should assume the responsibility of helping underdeveloped countries. "Assistance should be provided selflessly, with no strings attached. It is particularly important to increase assistance for least developed countries and regions," he said. Wen proposed that donor countries double their donations to the World Food Programme in the next five years and that the international community do more to cancel or reduce debts owed by least developed countries and provide zero-tariff treatment to their exports. Efforts should also be made to improve the working mechanisms for the development goals in the Millennium Declaration and coordinate the functions of international organizations to jointly overcome the difficulties facing developing countries, he said. |
