Address by the President at the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals

New York, 21.9.2010  |  speech

Address by Dr Danilo Türk, President of the Republic of Slovenia, at the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly/the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals
New York, 21 September 2010


Mr. President,

Amid turmoil and action there comes a moment for reflection and thought. Such a moment is now. Slovenia is grateful to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his initiative and for his indefatigable work in the preparation of this much needed and welcome Summit. We are grateful to all who were involved in the process of preparation of the Summit and, above all, to the many who work, day by day, and with a great sense of commitment, for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr. President,

Sometimes critics say that the targets set by the Millennium Development Goals are “arbitrary and unrealistic". Such a point of view is erroneous and devoid of understanding of history, which gave rise to the Millennium Goals. Let me therefore recall just a few basic facts.

It was two and a half decades ago that the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right to Development, a seminal document which expressed the high moral aspirations for fairness in development. The General Assembly called for development which benefits all and which allows human potential to be expressed to the full. In that Declaration we find the notion of full realization of human rights, which is possible only through economic and social development.

But what is development? The UN has provided an answer - through a series of global conferences held in the 1990s which thoroughly examined all the pertinent aspects - from economic and environmental to social and gender dimensions of development and defined specific action plans with regard to each of them. All that work was the basis for the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals and their specific and quantifiable targets. Those targets are neither arbitrary nor unrealistic. They are a result of solid work, real experience and a mature policy making.

Realism and ambition, high moral expectation and methodological sophistication have driven the process from its beginning and they should continue to guide our work today and in the future. This is necessary because of the intrinsic importance of the Millennium Development Goals for the mankind. Moreover, this is necessary also because the Millennium Development Goals represent a critical test of the vitality of the United Nations and multilateralism today.

Mr. President,

As we look at the level of achievement today, we see a mixed story - to use a term familiar from the recent UN documents. But a mixed story is a story of success, partial at least. Some parts of the world, including, recently, Africa, have experienced relatively high - and in some cases very high - levels of growth. In the global North, where growth had been high in the past, we see the phenomenon of saturation and the need to measure development by factors unrelated to the growth of the gross national product.

However, the focus must be placed on the poverty stricken parts of the world where we see gradual improvement. It is significant that in many parts of developing world longevity has risen and the incidence of AIDS has declined. The levels of primary school enrollment have been improved and the new information technologies have provided additional opportunities for education.

While the list of successes is significant, important policy challenges remain. First and foremost, the country ownership and leadership in policy design and implementation has to be respected. Internationally organized budget support and official development assistance can be made most effective on that basis.

Policy making, any policy making, requires a careful definition of priorities. The Millennium Development Goals provide a useful methodological framework for that purpose and a bold, yet realistic time horizon. Obviously, it is for the national governments to set the priorities for their respective countries. They are the ones to decide on the needed measures to ensure better food security and basic health care for the population. They are the ones responsible for the allocation of resources to improve the availability of safe water and improved sanitation - [as explained in the recent commentary by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the President of Liberia]. The national governments are the ones to set the targets for the primary education and for the development of comprehensive educational systems which will enable people, in particular women and girls, to enjoy adequate opportunities for education, including higher education.

The governments bear the primary responsibility for all the basic policies ranging from the eradication of poverty to environmental protection. But they have to be provided by effective international cooperation. In a globalized world the effectiveness of international cooperation has to grow. The official development assistance, while temporarily weakened by the recent recession, has to be strengthened. The international financial institutions have to be modernized. This task includes the much needed revision of quotas within the International Monetary Fund. The multilateral trade negotiations need to be restarted and the protectionist barriers lowered and eventually removed. Special attention in the development financing and support has to be given to the least developed among developing countries.

Mr. President,

Yesterday we heard the leaders of the World Bank, IMF and WTO who spoke about policy lending and targeting of investment, about financing in macroeconomic stability and about the benefits flowing from the global trading system. However, some fundamental questions remain open. Conclusion of Doha Round trade negotiations is not yet assured. Lending policies need to be continuously adapted to the implementation of MDGs. Global economic governance will be a critically important factor of achievement of the MDGs. Let us all encourage the key institutions to live up to the legitimate expectations of our era and of the millions of people who depend on the effectiveness of their work.