The Millennium Development Goals Review and Summit - May 2012
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2012
Sun
27
May
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The Millennium Development Goals Review and Summit was held in Cape Town recently on 03 & 04 May 2012. The Summit, Chaired by CGF CEO Terry Booysen set out to provide more answers than questions concerning the manner in which 191 heads of states, and the private sector have collaborated to address the Millennium Development Goals, and which we are committed to achieve by 2015.
The MDGs were established as a way of implementing the promises of the Millennium Declaration. The MDGs built on various UN conferences’ proposals over several years, having first been adopted as concrete targets by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) in 1996.
Drawing on the Declaration - and the work of governments, the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other experts - the goals were refined and published in 2001.
The MDGs provide common, clear targets; the majority of which are to be achieved by 2015, mostly measured against a 1990 baseline. In 2008, four new targets were added bringing the total number of targets to 22.
In the opening address to the Summit the Chairman states, “I am reminded of the adage that with great power comes responsibility and with great responsibility we must be willing to be held accountable when we fail to deliver in areas that affect the basic human rights and the dignity of people. South Africa is known to have one of the most progressive Constitutions world-wide, and whilst it promises so much to its people, regrettably millions still do not feel the relief it advocates. Similarly, this situation is found in many other parts of the world’’.
After an intense two days of jammed packed presentations and discussions, the Summit Chairman said in closing the Summit, “We have heard a number of presenters – all experts in their own fields – deliver very interesting presentations that have covered their views and statistics regarding how businesses from across the world may assist their respective governments and stakeholders to achieve their MDGs, which are due in 2015.
Whilst we should be reminded of our own comforts and timelines, these are surely not the same for those less privileged who are critically dependant on our collective efforts to rapidly achieve these goals. These goals are quite different to any other, and so they should be – LIVES literally hang on the balance of either our successes or failures in achieving these goals. Time is not a luxury we can afford!”
Booysen’s opening and closing address to the Summit provide compelling reading. If you would like to know where we are at and where we should be heading in terms od the Millennium Development Goals, take some time out and download the attachment, to review the addresses’ in full. In addressing the short-falls, it could also give you a good grasp of where the macro economic emphasis may lie, in the medium to long term.
Source: Insurance Gateway®
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