Top UN officials discuss meeting global anti-poverty targets

Reaching international targets to cut poverty and combat other global ills will top the agenda of a meeting of senior United Nations officials convened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan which opened today.

The gathering is the second of the two meetings held each year of the Chief Executives Board, which brings the executive heads of all UN organizations to advance coordination and cooperation on the whole range of substantive and management issues facing the world body.

Following today's private meetings at UN Headquarters, the heads of the 27 agencies, funds and programmes that participate in the Chief Executives Board will head out of New York City, where they will continue their discussions on key issues tomorrow.

This evening, they plan to discuss a strategy to further the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals set by world leaders in 2000. Those targets, to be met over the next 15 years, include halving the number of poor and hungry people, achieving educational parity for boys and girls and fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic.