The UN Chronicle

Volume XLV Number 1, 2008

Partnership for Development
The Millennium Declaration embodies a global partnership for development. Endorsed by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, the Declaration represents the commitment by developing countries and their partners in the developed world to build upon a universal framework for the eight Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015. While the first seven MDGs target concrete obstacles to development (in the areas of poverty and hunger, education, equality, health and the environment), MDG 8—develop a global partnership for development—represents the underpinning of all these Goals.

In the previous issue, we examined the first seven MDGs, asking whether we are on track to achieve them by 2015. In this issue, we focus on MDG 8 as the foundational goal, creating the conditions for achieving MDGs 1 to 7. While developing countries are called upon to improve governance to ensure that development initiatives reach those groups that would benefit most, the donor nations in the developed world are asked to make broad policy commitments to enable access to resources for development.

Goal 8 outlines six areas in which rich countries should increase assistance to respond to the needs of the poor in the developing world and to empower them to invest in their own development. The first three targets—aid, trade and debt—aim to enable developing countries to compete within the global market. The other three targets—employment, medicines and technology—seek to provide them access to the infrastructure and knowledge systems necessary to develop their societies.

Since the Millennium Declaration, the pledges spelled out in MDG 8 have been reaffirmed in various international forums. The Monterrey Consensus (2002) recognized the need for a substantial increase in aid, specifically for donor countries to reach the United Nations aid target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income in official development assistance (ODA), and to pursue debt relief for countries that strengthen governance. The Doha Ministerial Declaration of the World Trade Organization (2001) affirmed the objective of duty-free and quota-free market access for products from the least developed countries (LDCs). The World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) called on Members States to fulfil their commitments on market access. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed that “national efforts should be complemented by supportive global programmes, measures and policies aimed at expanding the development opportunities of developing countries”.

However, The Millennium Development Report 2007, the latest update on the implementation of the MDGs, notes that development aid has been falling: only five countries have reached the 0.7 per cent ODA target; debt relief is declining—and despite donor pledges to double aid to Africa by 2010, aid to the LDCs has stalled. While the debt service burden of developing countries has lightened, an overall agreement on improving their trade prospects has still not been adopted and “represents an important opportunity lost”.

With half the time left until the 2015 deadline, the heads of the UN system and major international organizations have come together within the MDG Africa Steering Group to develop a consensus on how to best scale up progress, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which is off track to achieving the MDGs. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon first convened the Steering Group on 14 September 2007. On 10 March 2008, it met for the second time to review a set of recommendations and initiatives and to identify ways in which these scale-up efforts can best be implemented. Plans are also underway for a high-level meeting on the MDGs that will be convened on the eve of the next UN General Assembly session on 25 September 2008. The event, which will bring world leaders, civil society and the private sector together, aims to bridge “the implementation gap”, Mr. Ban identified in his address to the Steering Group, and to help “translate existing commitments into action” and “strengthen the accountability of all parties” in a global partnership for development.