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Poorest nations hit hardest by rising fuel and food prices, climate change – Migiro

Poorest nations hit hardest by rising fuel and food prices, climate change – Migiro

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
With only two years left to complete an ambitious 10-year programme of steps to be taken by both industrialized nations and least developed countries (LDCs) to fight poverty, soaring food and oil prices and the disproportionate effects of climate change are adding new pitfalls, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today.

“These new challenges demand new and urgent responses,” she told a Ministerial Meeting of LDCs in New York on the Brussels Programme of Action, which includes commitments by the LDCs on good governance and by the world’s wealthiest countries to spend 0.15 to 0.2 per cent of gross national income on aid.

“It is imperative to build on the successes achieved so far, and address key constraints and pitfalls,” she said, stressing that the Programme sets out a clear framework for partnership, based on mutual commitments.

She noted that LDCs, especially small island and low-lying coastal States, are hardest hit by the adverse effects of climate change.

“We have an obligation to keep our promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in all countries, especially in the world’s least developed countries,” she declared, referring to the targets set by the UN Millennium Summit of 2000 to slash poverty, hunger, maternal and infant mortality and lack of access to health care and education, mainly in developing countries, all by 2015.