UAE committed to Millennium Development Goals

The UAE supports the Millennium Declaration based on its firm conviction that the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MGD) is a main factor in the maintenance of peace, security and prosperity in the world, said UAE Minister of State Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimi.

She was speaking in New York on Tuesday at the high-level plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on assessment of the Millennium Summit.

"Today, we renew our support of the Declaration and affirm our intention to continue working towards achieving the MDG by the year 2015 as we pledged,” she said.

The recent international economic, financial and security conditions prevailing during the past few years have demonstrated how interlinked the interests and concerns of countries of the world are. The economic crises aftermath proved that no country is safe from its impact regardless to the distances or the economic differences.

The UAE strongly believes that success in achieving the MDG requires an effective global partnership within the frame work of the recommendations of the Millennium Declaration and other conferences on development, especially the Monterey Consensus and the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development.

"While we recognise that the global economic and financial crisis led to the recession of the national incomes of developed donor countries, we urge those countries not to withdraw their commitments and keep working towards achieving the 0.7 per cent of their gross national income as official development assistance for the developing countries; take effective steps towards alleviating or cancelling their debts, and provide them with the new technology to help them build enabling environment for sustainable development," said Al Hashimi.

She emphasised the importance of reforming the international economic, financial and trade systems so as to allow the developing countries the opportunity to participate in the international market in a just and equitable manner.

"In the same time, we urge the developing countries to adopt economic policies that encourage production and help attract foreign investment," she said.

The minister noted that her country succeeded in containing the aftermath of the economic crises so as not to impact its achievements in the development process and fall back from commitments and foreign aid contributions for development.

"Our successes in achieving the MGD on the national level allowed us to enhance our contributions in the global partnership to assist developing countries achieve the development goals as soon as possible. We have exploited the revenue of oil to expand and diversify sources of national income and focus on the human development," she said.

Al Hashimi underscored that "we were able in a short period of time to achieve total eradication of poverty, raise the average income per capita to the highest levels in the world, and achieve gender equality and women empowerment. In the same time we ensured the sustainability of the environment, mitigation the effects of climate change and reduced emissions".

She noted the UAE has adopted a foreign policy that focuses on cooperation and bilateral and international partnerships to achieve development in other countries. The UAE is one of the major donors in the international partnership for development. A number of national institutions and funds participate in the foreign aid contributions, which forms a high percentage of the gross national income of our country.

The UAE plays an effective role in strengthening the international assistance in cases of emergency, such as natural disasters and armed conflicts. In 2009 the UAE has donated around $3 billion as humanitarian and development assistance, with special focus on countries most affected.

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