1.The Millennium Development Goals can be achieved but we need to act now. With only five years left until the target date for achieving the MDGs, the Summit comes at a crucial time for world leaders to commit to a concrete action agenda to achieve the Goals by 2015.
2. Much has been accomplished. Over the past ten years, many poor countries have made enormous progress*. The MDGs have led to a real transformation on the ground, especially in Africa. Donors’ investments have paid off. However, accomplishments are fragile and more remains to be done.
3. We know how to get there. The good news is that we know what works. A decade of experience has shown us what policies work best to achieve the MDGs, and how to safeguard the progress made.
4.We must put our resources where they will have the greatest impact — including:
a.Policies that create jobs, boost agriculture, food and nutrition security, and empower women;
b.Investments in health and health systems, including the Global Strategy on Women’s and Children’s Health (to be launched on 22 September), and the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria;
c.Breaking down barriers – economic, social and cultural — to empower the poorest and most vulnerable to lift themselves out of poverty;
d.Policies and investments that boost green growth, such as for renewable energy.
5.Together we can do it. Partnerships for development deliver real results on the ground. We can achieve the MDGs if all sectors of society – the international community, national governments, business, the philanthropic sector, voluntary organizations and civil society at large – come together for a collective push to 2015.
6.Leadership and accountability: The MDGs are a call for visionary and accountable leadership to bring about more equity and prosperity for all.
7.By investing in the MDGs, we invest in global economic growth. We must build our recovery from the ground up. While we are balancing our budgets, we must also ring-fence the resources to protect the world’s poorest populations. Global economic recovery depends on growth in developing countries. By focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable, we lay the foundation for a more sustainable and prosperous tomorrow.

Developed countries must deliver what they have already promised at previous summit meetings of the G-8 and G-20 and at the United Nations.
The money needed is modest. Official development assistance (ODA) currently stands around $120 billion a year. Fulfilling the longstanding UN target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income to be devoted to ODA would take annual increments of $35 billion a year for each of the next five years, to reach a level of around $300 billion by 2015.
Developing countries, too, have a promise to keep. Sustainable development can only be built on the firm bedrock of good governance, human rights and effective policies and institutions.
*Examples of success:
·Malawi’s national fertilizer subsidy programme helped increase maize production from 1.2 million tons in 2005 to 3.2 million tons in 2007, ensuring self-sufficiency and turning the country into a net food exporter. (Goal 1)
·Ghana increased its food production by 40 per cent through a nationwide fertilizer subsidy programme, contributing to an average 9 per cent decline in hunger between 2003 and 2005. (Goal 1)
·Vietnam cut the prevalence of hunger by more than half, from 28 per cent in 1991 to 13 per cent in 2004-06 through investments in agriculture and infrastructure. (Goal 1)
·In Nigeria, debt relief through a Virtual Poverty Fund was directed to agriculture and contributed to doubling agricultural production and farmers’ income. (Goal 1 )
·Abolition of school fees at the primary level contributed to surges in enrolment in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal and Tanzania. (Goal 2)
·In Bahrain, 98 per cent of women participated in a referendum in 2001, paving the way for legislative reforms that gave Bahraini women full rights as citizens. (Goal 3)
·Providing low-cost electricity in the form of biofuel multifunctional platforms in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal has created income-generating opportunities for women, while reducing labour time by up to six hours a day. (Goal 3)
·South Asia’s Women Well-being, Work, Waste and Sanitation project trained women to install sanitation facilities. It also allowed them to earn additional income. (Goal 3)
·Measles deaths in Africa dropped by 89 per cent between 2000 and 2007. (Goal 4)
·Bangladesh, Bolivia, Malawi, and Nepal saw a decline in the under-five mortality rate of more than 50 per cent since 1990. (Goal 4)
·Afghanistan’s Basic Package of Health Services focused on construction of health centres and hospitals, training of health workers, and large-scale vaccinations. Amid conflict, under-five mortality declined significantly between 2002 and 2004. (Goal 4)
·Egypt improved maternal health by increasing access to essential obstetric care and neonatal services. Between 1992 and 2000 alone, the maternal mortality rate decreased from 174 per 100,000 live births to 55. (Goal 5)
·Panama’s conditional cash transfer programme provided free primary care services, vaccinations and reproductive health care to 70,599 households, or 95 per cent of people living under the poverty line, during 2007 – 2008. (Goals 5 & 6)
·Cambodia’s 100% Condom Use Programme contributed to doubling condom use among sex workers. HIV prevalence declined from 1.2 to 0.7 per cent between 2003 and 2008. (Goal 6)
·Ethiopia promoted small- and medium-scale enterprises, and community-based urban works programmes and constructed over 80,000 public housing units to address the 60 per cent rise in slum-dwellers between 1990 and 2008. (Goal 7)
·Guatemala increased access to safe drinking water from 79 per cent in 1990 to 96 per cent in 2006. (Goal 7)