With only a few years remaining to close the chapter on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), President Paul Kagame believes that there is need for world leaders to focus on the need to achieve to the goals.
Kagame said that there has been a lot of improvement and positive results, following the responsibility given to the advocacy group and its commitment made to achieving the MDG’s but there are so many challenges still lying ahead.
President Paul Kagame made the remarks while addressing a press conference in New York in the company of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard after co-chairing the third meeting MDG’s advocacy group meeting at the UN General Assembly on September 26.
The MDG’s deadline has approximately just three years, three months and four days away, many of the millennium development goals are yet to be fulfilled especially in many developing countries.
“I think that the most important thing is to focus on what needs to done. Some of these issues are simple things. When you focus on some of these little things, for example productivity in terms of crop yield, if you apply fertilizers, you can improve productivity in a very short time”
However Kagame noted that in order to achieve this, it requires to a large extent the citizen’s participation with organization, management and interaction for different global expertise and information.
“This has to be inclusive, with more participation of the people who have to put their hands on these things. The more people you involve the more results you get, and if we worked together, there is no reason why we cannot achieve this, that is how we have done it in our own country” Kagame said.
This realization has sparked new energy as members of the advocacy group recognize the fact that now more than ever more work needs to be done if these goals are to be achieved by 2015.
President Kagame said that he was happy to have had the opportunity to serve on this advocacy team and hopeful that the work ahead would be completed, especially with the new energy and ideas coming in through the team of co-chairs, and the mobilization of resources.
“We have seen a lot of improvement in different areas a lot of activity in organizing, in mobilizing resources to enable other countries where work needs to be done- we have seen positive results as well as we are conscious of so many the challenges and work to be done ahead.
We are discussing, looking at what has been done, achieved and the work that needs to be done ahead towards 2015…what really forms that work and responsibility that we need to carry forward. So, we are very happy and energized to do what we have to do, as people who have committed ourselves to seeing this global and noble task carried out” Kagame remarked.
The MDGs are eight goals launched in September 2000, where some 193 UN member states agreed to achieve by the year 2015 in order to encourage development by improving social and economic conditions in the world’s poorest countries.
According to the national institute of statistics of Rwanda, five of the MDG’s are well on their way to attainment in Rwanda. These include; access to universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and women empowerment, reduction of maternal and child mortality rates and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.