Ireland / Uganda / Millennium Development Goals / Minister of State Power to open Forum on Ireland’s progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction

DUBLIN, Irlande, June 17, 2008/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Wednesday, 18 June 2008; 9.30AM at Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre, 27-31 Upper O ‘Connell Street, Dublin 1,
Minister of State Power will be joined at the Forum by Uganda’s Minister for Education and Sports, Ms Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire and by a number of other speakers from Malawi, Ethiopia and Mozambique.

The Forum will review how collaboration between Ireland, African Governments, International Organisations and NGOs are achieving real results at community level in Africa in reducing poverty, providing better health and education services, growing more food and increasing women’s employment opportunities. The Forum will contribute to an international review of progress towards meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. It will give Irish parliamentarians, NGOs and academics an opportunity to input into the major international conferences taking place in New York and Accra, Ghana in September 2008.

 

Speaking in advance of the Forum, Minister of State Power said:

 

“As champion for the Millennium Development Goals, I recognise that working for their achievement is our collective responsibility. Greatly scaled-up and concerted international action is needed between now and 2015 if these goals are to be met.”

 

“Irish Aid sees the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment at the heart of efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals “said Minister of State Power.

 

Photo Opportunity

 

9.45 AM on Wednesday, 18 June 2008 at the Irish Aid Centre:

 

Danish Ambassador Henrik Reé Iversen will hand Minister Power the “MDG 3 Gender Equality Champion Torch”, which
Minister Power will in turn pass to Minister Bitamazire of Uganda.

 

The “MDG3 Gender Equality Champion Torch Initiative” by the Danish Government is intended to increase international support for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Ireland’s acceptance of the Torch signifies this commitment “to do something extra” in the area of gender.

 

ENDS ++++

Press Office

17 June 2008

 

Note for Editors

In 2000, at the United Nations’ Millennium Summit, 189 countries agreed on a set of 8 goals to be achieved by 2015 and stated that they would spare no effort to them:

 

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger

Achieving universal primary education

Promoting gender equality and empowering women

Reducing child mortality

Improving maternal health

Combating HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Ensuring environmental sustainability

Developing a global partnership for development

 

These 8 Millennium Development Goals have become a universal framework for development and provide the basis for developing countries and donors partners to work together in support of a better future for all. They inform Ireland’s approach to development.

 

At the mid point between their adoption and the 2015 target date, progress is mixed and, if they are to be achieved it will require sustained and concerted action from all countries.

 

MDGs High Level Meeting, New York, 25 September

A High Level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals has been convened by the UN Secretary General to mark the midway point between the 2000 Millennium Summit (where the goals where agreed) and the 2015 target for their implementation. It follows an initiative by British PM Gordon Brown, the “MDG Call to Action”, which was endorsed by the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern TD. Minister Power is now a Champion for the MDGs.

The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness commits the signatories, which include partner governments, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, regional development banks, and international agencies to the effective use of aid funds in order to improve the quality of aid.

On September 2-4, a High Level Forum in Accra, Ghana will consider progress against the commitments made in the Paris Declaration and agree an Agenda for Action to remove bottlenecks and accelerate progress. Ireland will participate in both this Forum and the MDGs High Level Meeting in New York.

SOURCE : Irish- Ministry of Foreign Affairs