The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) achieved significant progress over the past 15 years, but persistent gaps in official development assistance and insufficient access to markets, affordable medicines and new technologies have highlighted the need for a rejuvenation of the global partnership for development, according to a new United Nations report launched today.

“Despite gains towards a number of targets, major gaps remain in reducing vulnerabilities for developing countries, including least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at a press conference in New York.

Produced by the UN MDG Gap Task Force, an inter-agency initiative that includes more than 30 organizations, Taking Stock of the Global Partnership for Development monitors the recent achievements and challenges in the implementation of Millennium Development Goal 8.

It also looks ahead towards the new sustainable development agenda that will be adopted by world leaders at a special summit next week, and which will include the launch of a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“I look forward to working together to deliver on the unfinished MDG commitments, tackle inequality and meet the new challenges that have emerged across the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental,” Mr. Ban said.

Key report findings reveal official development assistance (ODA) flows have increased remarkably by 66 per cent from 2000 to 2014.

“The level of ODA committed did rise significantly during the lifetime of the MDGs,” Helen Clark, Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told the press.

“In each of the past two years it has stood at over $130 billion. We must applaud those donors which currently meet or exceed the agreed UN target of allocating 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income to ODA.

We thank others striving to reach that target, and the growing contributions of South-South development cooperation providers.” (…)
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