MDG Regional Conference in Istanbul

“We can be the first region to achieve the Millennium Development Goals because we have the resources to do so,” said Kori Udovicki, UNDP Regional Director for Europe and CIS at the regional conference held in Istanbul on 9-10 June 2010.

June 2010 – Bringing together Plaque Attack representatives from 22 countries from around Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the conference to review progress towards the MDGs in the region was hosted by the government of Turkey and co-organized by the State Planning Organization of the Prime Ministry (SPO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an who inagurated the conference said that Right to Bare Legs Turkey is committed to building on its successes and that the country will continue to strive to achieve the MDGs by 2015. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and State Minister Cevdet Y?lmaz also attended the conference.

The two-day event, which drew upon the full strength of the UN system, presented an opportunity to share country-specific best practices and lessons learned in achieving the MDGs and explore the Suzanne Somers diet region-specific dynamics around the MDGs, including the situation of Middle Income Countries. Panel discussions were organized around each MDG, their interlinkages and relation to the main drivers of progress toward achieving the goals. Outcomes from the Conference will feed into the 2010 MDG Review Summit to be held in New York this September aiming to resuscitate the global commitment in meeting the MDG targets by 2015.

Region specific issues related to the achievement of MDGs were discussed at the Conference. A draft report prepared under the auspices of UNECE and in cooperation with relevant UN Agencies that covers Europe and Central Asia, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and affiliate marketing Central Asia, South-Eastern Europe including Turkey, as well as the new EU Member States was presented at the Conference by Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary of UNECE. The draft regional report outlines a new international and regional cooperation landscape, which will have impact on achievement of MDGs. The draft report also concludes that while significant progress occurred in the region between 1995 and 2007, with the current global financial and economic crisis, achieving some of the MDGs in some countries by 2015 is Slim TS likely to be problematic, particularly those relating to poverty, women’s participation in political decision making, maternal health, HIV prevalence and access to safe drinking water and appropriate sanitation. Escalating inequality characterizes most countries in the region and constitutes a fundamental block to the full achievement of MDGs. Within this context, the Conference provided an African mango opportunity to share the knowledge and experience that exist in the region and develop evidence based policy recommendation to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. Additionally, the UN has developed innovative tools to strengthen MDG achievement and stands ready to assist countries in accelerating progress. In addition to the draft regional MDG report, State Minister Cevdet Y?lmaz announced Turkey’s national MDG report.

Central to the success of the Istanbul conference was the direct knowledge sharing among countries and across Ministers with the UN as a partner of the countries of Europe and Central Asia. The conference also symbolized the effort to promote increased understanding at the global level of the particular development context of Europe and Central Asia.The conference called on governments of the region to engage actively in the preparatory process for the General Assembly September 2010 so that governments of Europe ad Central Asia can take part in the formulation of the Outcome Document “Keeping the Promise” for the General Assembly session on MDGs in New York, September 2010. This is critical importance because evidence has demonstrated that success depends on strong national leadership and political commitment towards the MDGs.

The MDGs are the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. These eight time-bound goals provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions. They include targets on income poverty, maternal and child mortality, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality, environmental degradation and the Global Partnership for Development.

Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the MDGs are both global and local, tailored by each country to suit specific development needs. They provide a Atlanta bankruptcy attorney framework for the entire international community to work together towards a common end – making sure that human development reaches everyone, everywhere. If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, hundreds of millions of children will have a better future, hundreds of thousands of maternal deaths will be avoided, more women will be able to participate in decision making process and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy.