Turning the Millennium Development Goals into Millennium Development Achievements. Commissioner Piebalgs in the UN Development Cooperation Forum
"Europe is committed to ending the lottery of where you live determines how you live. Last week, European leaders reaffirmed their commitment towards the Millennium Development Goals and their development aid targets by 2015. At the G8/G20 meeting, President Barroso called to speed up work. I now call on other international development aid donors to join our ambition to make the fight against poverty a reality. It is time to turn pledges in actions and Millennium Development Goals in Millennium Development Achievements."
European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs, is a main speaker of a UN conference on the Millennium Development Goals, which will pave the way to the UN High Level Summit on MDGs due to take place in September. At the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Development Cooperation Forum, Commissioner Piebalgs will deliver a key note speech on Europe's position on the way forward to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He will also hold a bilateral meeting with Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and participate to a debate on European Development policy at the City University of New York.
Commissioner Piebalgs stated: "Europe is committed to ending the lottery of where you live determines how you live. Last week, European leaders reaffirmed their commitment towards the Millennium Development Goals and their development aid targets by 2015. At the G8/G20 meeting, President Barroso called to speed up work. I now call on other international development aid donors to join our ambition to make the fight against poverty a reality. It is time to turn pledges in actions and Millennium Development Goals in Millennium Development Achievements."
The UN ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum meeting will gather Ministers of Development and Foreign Affairs. Commissioner Piebalgs will represent the European Union in the Development Cooperation Forum. He will use the opportunity to present latest decisions adopted by the EU in support for achievement of the MDGs and will stress the importance of policy coherence on development and aid effectiveness, which are one of the main themes that the Forum is structured around. The Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) was created in 2008 to be the principal UN forum for global dialogue and policy review on the effectiveness and coherence of international development cooperation. The meeting with Helen Clark, Administrator of the UNDP will be an occasion for the Commissioner to exchange views on development policy and discuss expectations ahead of the UN High Level Summit on MDGs. Following this, Commissioner Piebalgs will address students, professors and other guests at the City University of New York to communicate and provide visibility to the EU policies and actions in support for the MDGs.
Background
The first ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum was held in 2008 In New York. The Forum was established, to be an integral part of the ECOSOC high-level segment, in the 2005 UN World Summit. The role of the DCF has since been reaffirmed in the outcome documents of the Accra High-level forum on Aid Effectiveness and of the Doha Review Conference on Financing for Development. The DCF is an influential discussion forum for analysis and high-level debates on current trends in development cooperation with multi-stakeholder participation.
