Although Africa is making progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the rate of progress is so slow that the region as a whole is at risk of not meeting the goals, a UN official said on Monday.

The attainment of the MDGs for most African countries will depend on the ability to resolutely tackle key challenges, said Abdoulie Janneh, UN undersecretary-general and executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Janneh said though challenges will inevitably vary, sustaining economic growth, scaling up development financing and public sector investments, getting the right environment policy, managing the risks of globalization as well as ensuring peace and security are the five interrelated categories of challenges facing most African countries.

"It is essential that all of us, rich and poor, educated and non-educated alike, regard the MDGs as our ends," he said at an opening ceremony of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which is organized by the ECA each year.

Janneh said most of the activity and deliberations on the MDGs have been carried out at the level of governments and donors with very little grassroots participation.

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said accelerated pro-poor growth which results in the transformation of economies is a key for Africa to achieve the MDGs.

He said the MDGs are goals that cover not only economic issues but also social issues. The core of all these goals is reducing poverty. "It is only by accelerating growth that we can make a sustainable dent not only on the economic indicators of poverty, but also on the social ones."

Various African finance ministers, former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka, researchers, invited guests and numerous diplomats are taking part in the conference of which the theme is "accelerating Africa's growth and development to meet the MDGs: emerging challenges and the way forward."

The MDGs, which were established in 2000 at the Millennium Summit in New York, include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empower women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability as well as developing a global partnership for development.

Source: Xinhua