Xinhua, United Nations :
A new United Nations report released here Thursday said that undelivered aid commitments by developed countries are holding back progress on the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to the report entitled “The State of the Global Partnership for Development,” while many MDG targets have already been met-such as reducing poverty, increasing access to improved drinking water sources, improving the lives of slum dwellers and achieving gender parity in primary school-progress on other goals has slowed.
“With only one year ahead, we definitely need a strong sense of urgency and action,” Wu Hongbo, UN under-secretary-general for Economic and Social Affairs, said at a press conference here to launch the report.
The report, produced by the MDG Gap Force Task Force which is co-chaired by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs ( DESA) and the UN Development Program (UNDP), tracks delivery on commitments listed under Goal 8 of the MDGs. That target focuses on the global partnership for development, including aid, trade, debt relief, access to essential medicines and access to technologies.
Despite a rebound in Official Development Assistance (ODA), the gap between the Goal 8 targets and policy delivery remains wide, the report said.
The commitment of 0.7 percent of donor country gross national income is estimated at 315 billion U.S. dollars, but in 2013 an estimated 135 billion was delivered, leaving a 180 billion gap.
“Shortfalls in development cooperation highlight the need for a revitalized global partnership for development as the international community moves forward delivering a post-2015 development agenda,” Wu said.
For example, in market access, said the report, the Group of 20 (G20) major economies reaffirmed commitment to refrain from protectionist measures, but created new trade restrictions in 2013 which “could undermine confidence” in their commitment to an open and liberal trading system.
It also noted that technological access for developing countries is growing at a fast pace, in particular of mobile phone usage, whose subscribers in the developing world will reach 78 percent by the end of the year.
Furthermore, while Internet use is spreading at a faster rate in developing countries than developed nations, more than 4 billion people are still unable to go online.
The report also highlighted the prices of essential medicines, which are three times more expensive in the public sector than international reference prices and five times higher in developing countries’ private sector.
These are some of the discussion points as the international community will prepare the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.
Also participating at the press conference on the launch of the report were Thomas Gass, UN Assistant secretary-general for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs, and Pingfan Hong, director of Development Policy and Analysis Division at DESA.
