Secretary-General's message to the Poverty Soccer Game

It's time to score goals for development. Poverty, hunger and disease affect hundreds of millions of lives and kill a child every three seconds. But we have a plan of action to change this. To set the 21st century on the right track, all Member States of the United Nations have agreed on eight essential goals to be reached by 2015. These Millennium Development Goals, ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education -- all by the target date of 2015 -- form a blueprint for building a better world in the 21st century. They represent a set of simple but powerful objectives that every man and woman in the street, from Basel to Bangkok, from Bamako to Buenos Aires, can easily support and understand.

Achieving these goals is not a task for Governments alone. It requires everyone to join forces. I commend Ronaldo and Zidane on their initiative today, and I thank the many football players who have given their time and talent. Efforts like yours encourage all of us -- individuals, Governments, organizations, communities and business -- to find ways of teaming up for a world in which all people can achieve their full potential. If all of us play to our individual strengths, we can make a winning team in the fight against poverty.