Realizing millennium goals<\/p>\n
The Asia and Pacific meeting on the Millennium Development
\nGoals (MDGs) here starting today is an opportune moment to start
\nmeaningful dialog between developing and developed countries in
\nthe two regions about the best ways to accelerate the achievement
\nof global poverty-alleviation targets.<\/p>\n
This is the first five-year juncture for the MDGs -- which
\nwere declared by leaders from 189 countries at the United Nations
\nin September 2000 -- and the recommendations from this meeting
\nwill be useful input for the global summit at the UN next month,
\nwhich will assess how the pledges have thus far been realized.<\/p>\n
There is no question about the political will of developed and
\ndeveloping countries to support the MDGs, which address in a
\nsingle package all most all the issues related to peace,
\nsecurity, human rights, development and fundamental freedoms. The
\nMDGs not only reflect global justice and human rights but also
\nare key to international and national security and stability. The
\nrationale, as the latest UN report on the MDGs asserts, is that
\npoor and hungry societies are much more likely than high-income
\npeoples to fall into conflicts over scarce vital resources.<\/p>\n
World leaders reaffirmed their commitment to achieving the
\nglobal poverty amelioration goals at their meeting in Monterey,
\nMexico, in March 2002. The ministerial meeting of the developed
\ncountries grouped in the Organization for Economic Cooperation
\nand Development, in Paris last May also reiterated their
\ncommitment to the MDGs.<\/p>\n
Yet, as the latest UN report on MDGs points out, the progress
\ntowards the MDG deadline of 2015 could have been faster. While in
\nmany countries the headway had been quite significant, in others,
\nespecially sub-Saharan Africa, the process is still far off-
\ntrack.<\/p>\n
More than one billion people still subsist on less than US$1 a
\nday, the UN said in its latest report.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, meanwhile, still has almost 40 million people in
\nabsolute poverty and twice as many on the verge of poverty, with
\nspending of less than $2 a day.<\/p>\n
The senior officials of the 53 Asia-Pacific countries meeting
\nhere should, however, avoid the mistake the participants of such
\ninternational meetings often make -- of blaming each other -- or
\nthis gathering will degenerate into pointless finger-pointing.<\/p>\n
There are still, it should be remembered, another 10 years
\nremaining for the realization of the MDGs.<\/p>\n
The global partnership for development requires developed
\ncountries to help create a more enabling international trade and
\naid environment in which developing countries can also thrive.<\/p>\n
However, the role of developed nations in the realization of
\nMDGs is complementary at best. The blunt reality remains: Each
\ndeveloping country has the primary responsibility for its own
\neconomic, social and environmental development. This means that
\nthe achievement of the MDGs depends mainly on a country's good
\ngovernance system -- the ability of a government to facilitate
\nand establish the framework for economic growth through sound
\nmacroeconomic policies and providing such public goods as basic
\ninfrastructure, public health and education.<\/p>\n
The experiences with poverty-alleviation programs in many
\ncountries point to several main barriers to achieving MDGs: Bad
\ngovernance or corrupt government, poverty traps, poor economic
\npolicies and denials of human rights.<\/p>\n
Sound macroeconomic policies are crucial to poverty
\nalleviation because it is private investment that should be the
\nlocomotive of economic growth. Although growth does not always
\nautomatically reduce absolute poverty, it is impossible to
\nalleviate poverty without economic growth. And there will never
\nbe growth without public and private investment.<\/p>\n
Good governance is vital for achieving MDGs because the market
\nmechanism is not by itself effective for reducing poverty,
\nespecially in areas trapped in absolute poverty -- such as
\nvillages that lack access to paved roads, vehicular
\ntransportation and are acutely short of electricity and clean
\nwater.<\/p>\n
Market forces tend to bypass such poverty pockets because they
\ndon't generate consumer demand and thus have little prospects for
\ncommercial interests. Hence, the government has to intervene in
\nmany ways to create a more equitable distribution of income and
\nincrease public investment in such key areas as health,
\neducation, infrastructure and environmental management-- areas
\nthat are key to lifting people out of absolute poverty.<\/p>\n
Obviously, governments controlled by a corrupt political
\nleadership have neither the will nor the ability to realize their
\ncountry's MDGs. In this case, no amount of international
\nassistance will help.<\/p>\n
However, most of the developing countries, including
\nIndonesia, which signed the UN Millennium Declaration on MDGs,
\nhave well-intentioned governments, which are strongly committed
\nto reducing poverty. But they lack the capability to empower
\ntheir poor people because of heavy debt-servicing burdens or
\ninadequate institutional capacity to implement good governance
\npractices.<\/p>\n
It is these governments -- too poor or unable to make
\nmeaningful public investment in human capital and physical
\ninfrastructure -- that deserve more aid, technical assistance
\nand debt-relief from developed countries to realize their MDGs.<\/p>\n
--------<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/realizing-millennium-goals-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }