General Assembly to hold special session to accelerate progress on development goals

Top executives from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Soros Foundation and Sun Microsystems will be on hand next week when the United Nations General Assembly opens a special meeting on reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global antipoverty targets, through partnerships with the private sector and others.

Assembly President Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the President of the Economic and Social Council, Ali Hachani, will open the programme on Monday in the General Assembly Hall.

They will be followed by presentations by the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Kemal Dervis, the President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Ahmed Mohamed Ali; and Jeffery Sachs, special advisor to the Secretary-General.

A highlight of the event will be presentations from countries at the ministerial level on efforts to carry out national development strategies for reaching the MDGs.

Hisham Alwugayan of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, George Soros of the Soros Foundation and John Gage of Sun Microsystems will be among those serving as panelists during an afternoon discussion involving representatives from Member States, civil society and the private sector.

The MDGs were agreed by world leaders at the UN’s Millennium Summit in 2000. They cover eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainablility and fostering a global partnership for development.