David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Wednesday 01 October, 2008

UN General Assembly Re-Cap 1: Millennium Development Goals

The Special Session of the UNGA on Thursday, plus forty panel sessions involving government, NGOs and campaigners from Bill Gates to Bob Geldof was remarkable not just for its dynamism but for what it achieved: $16 bn of contributions to the struggle against disease and want in the poorest parts of the world.  The Prime Minister's contribution is here  .

I thought the most striking thing was the determination not to be deflected by the global economic crisis.  The second most striking thing was that people were talking about comprehensive plans covering not just aid but trade, conflict prevention and good governance. And the third most striking thing, the role of China. Premier Wen spoke at the opening plenary   and the figures from his country are stark.  600 million people lifted out of poverty since the economic reforms began 30 years ago.  Annual per capita income up from $200 in 1979 to $2200 in 2006.  China has met its MDG targets on halving the impoverished population, on universal education and reducing infant mortality, as well as making progress on maternal health and gender equality.  Despite that, 200 million Chinese live on less than $1.25 a day and 500 million (38% of population) on less than $2 a day.  A huge hill still to climb.

Posted at 10:29 01 October 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

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China has made significant progress where povery is concerned and the statistics you've provided prove that. Obviously there's still a long way to go. I just hope that our own government's target to eradicate child poverty by 2020 will be met. As you may know, The Campaign to End Child Poverty has said that of the 646 constituencies in Britain, 174 have 50 or more of children close to the poverty line. Although the government has lifted some 600,000 children out of poverty, I think there's still a long way to go. Obviously, as a wealthy nation we are obliged to offer financial assistance to poorer countries. 16 billion dollars is a colossal contribution and I am in no doubt that our government provdided a generous portion towards that. I don't say this to be sarcastic or to criticise. Donating aid is both a moral obligation and something this government should be commended for. Our aid budget for developing nations is huge. But we still need to focus on struggling families here and I hope the government will not lose sight of that.

Posted by Justin on October 01, 2008 at 05:54 PM BST #

You refer to trade. We're still waiting for a satisfactory outcome to the WTO development round.

Posted by Owen on October 03, 2008 at 10:18 PM BST #

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