Secretary-General's statement on the Millennium Development Goals

I will meet with Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown this evening. I intend to discuss next year's summit at the General Assembly, where we will review progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Many of these goals, including the one of halving poverty by 2015, are far from being met. I will appeal to the Chancellor and the UK Government to use the upcoming UK presidencies of the G8 and the EU to work for the necessary political breakthrough and the additional resources needed to achieve those goals. In this context, I will be supporting the G7 donors considering seriously the Chancellor's proposal for an International Finance Facility that would be capable of doubling aid flows to the developing world up to $100 billion a year.