British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in an interview to be published Monday, called on private sector firms to boost economic growth in developing countries and help the UN meet its poverty-reduction goals by providing their expertise.
In an interview with The Guardian, an influential British newspaper, Brown said that ministers have been holding intensive discussions with 20 large multinational companies, including Internet search giant Google, telecom company Vodafone, investment bank Goldman Sachs and retailer Wal-Mart, in an attempt to find ways of spurring growth in poor countries.
Brown also called for an "action meeting" on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight basic targets to be met by the international community by 2015, at the UN General Assembly in September next year to address what he described as a "development emergency."
"We are half way to the target date of 2015, but a long way off track to our goals and face a development emergency," Brown told The Guardian.
The prime minister will use three events next year -- a London conference involving the private sector early next year, a meeting of the G8 group in Japan next summer, and the UN General Assembly in September -- to reinvigorate the drive to meet the MDGs, set in 2000.
He continued: "2008 should be a development year and mark a call to action from everyone -- not just rich and poor governments but civil society, faith groups, trade unions and even the private sector.
The international community needs to face up to this development emergency. We know what to do -- we need to keep our promises and act.”
"I am therefore calling for a MDG action meeting during the UN General Assembly in September to re-examine and galvanizes our efforts," Brown said.
The MDGs, adopted by world leaders at the 2000 UN summit and to be met by 2015, include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability and creating global partnerships for development.
Source:Xinhua
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