The Council of Ministers of the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) group on Tuesday stressed the need for the member states to redouble efforts to attain the Millennium Development goals by 2015.
After guaranteeing that all was in place for the ACP heads of state summit that begins in Maputo on Wednesday, the chairman of the Council of Ministers, Pierre Moussa, told reporters that the question of meeting the targets in the Millennium Development Goals would be one of the key themes of the declaration to emerge from the summit.
These goals are the outcome of the United Nations Millennium Summit held in 2000. They are intended to reduce poverty dramatically and increase the level of human development. They take as their starting point the year 1990, and the year 2015 is the cut-off point.
Over that period, the world's leaders have pledged to reduce by half the number of people living on less than a dollar a day; to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds; to reduce the maternal mortality rate by three quarters; to halt and to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS; to ensure that all children can complete a full course of primary education - and much else that is both highly desirable, and unlikely to happen unless the rich countries of the north provide much more aid than is currently on offer.
Addressing a press conference at the end of the ministerial meeting, Moussa also said that the summit's "Maputo Declaration" will stress the need for peace, security and stability.
He said the ministers listened to statements from representatives of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), who urged that the declaration from the summit should also deal with agriculture, since this is the basis for the survival of most citizens of the ACP countries.
Meanwhile ACP heads of state and government have been arriving at Maputo international airport throughout the day.
Fonte: AIM
