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China makes outstanding achievements in millennium goals

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-21 13:36

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday opened a three-day high-level meeting with a plea to nearly 140 heads of state and government to boost efforts in order to translate the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the 10-year-old ambitious UN anti-poverty program, into reality by its deadline of 2015.

Chinese performance widely applauded

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is attending the meeting, highlighting China's continuing efforts to contribute to the MDGs.

As the biggest developing country, China has made eye-catching achievements in realizing the goals over the past years.

According to statistics of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, China has earlier than schedule accomplished the objectives of halving the population stricken by poverty and hunger, popularizing elementary education, and reducing child mortality. In particular, China has contributed 70 percent of the world population that have been relieved from poverty in the past 20 years.

Meanwhile, China, which is not rich yet but steadily progressing in its development, has stepped up efforts in aiding poverty-stricken developing countries to help them realize the MDGs.

By the end of 2009, China had provided economic and technological aid to over 120 developing countries and donated fund to over 30 international and regional organizations, making it the second biggest donator among developing countries following Saudi Arabia.

UN Chief Ban said China has exemplified the South-South Cooperation by offering economic cooperation and aid to many developing countries in Africa and other regions.

Solemn Commitments before new millennium

In September 2000, just before the new millennium, over 150 heads of state and government including then Chinese President Jiang Zemin gathered at the UN headquarters in New York and worked out the MDGs.

The MDGs established eight development goals that by the deadline of 2015 countries are required to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger, popularize elementary education, promote gender equality and women's rights, reduce child mortality, improve maternal healthcare, fight AIDS and malaria, ensure environmental sustainability, and boost and develop global cooperation.

The MDGs also set up specific benchmarks for measuring the eight goals. For example, the number of population with less than one U.S. dollar per capita daily living costs should be halved, the under-5 mortality cut by two-thirds, and the maternal mortality chopped by three-fourths from the 1990 level.

Gains and Tasks

The past decade since the endorsement of the MDGs in 2000 has witnessed both achievements and challenges.

According to the UN MDGs Report 2010, quite a number of countries have made great progress during last 10 years.

"Robust growth in the first half of the decade reduced the number of people in developing regions living on less than 1.25 dollars a day from 1.8 billion in 1990 to 1.4 billion in 2005," said the report.

The overall poverty rate is still expected to fall to 15 percent by 2015, meaning the people living under the international poverty line would be reduced to 920 million.

However, it also warned of uneven progress in achieving the MDGs. Some of the goals are unlikely to be reached in some least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island nations, and countries mired in or emerging from conflicts.

Responsibilities for developed countries

According to some analysts, one of the major reasons causing the unsatisfactory status of the MDGs should go to developed nations failing to fully fulfil their commitments towards the developing countries.

Developed nations promised in 2005 to raise the official development aid to developing countries to 146 billion dollars, yet the remaining gap of 20 billion would impact African nations in urgent need of assistance.

Like the United States, which provides only 30 billion dollars in aid, or 0.2 percent of its gross national income (GNI), many developed nations set their aid standards below the UN request of 0.7 percent of the GNI.

U.S. economist and UN chief's adviser on the MDGs Jeffrey Sachs described in his recent article the coming summit as a key diplomatic opportunity for the international community to speed up the process of completing the MDGs.

He called on world leaders to bring brighter prospects for international cooperation and sustainable development.