I apologise. Please substitute MGDs with MDGs - Millennium Development  
Goals. Thank you.
Haruna.
 
In a message dated 9/30/2007 1:45:16 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Coleagues, I  read the speech presented on our behalf by Dr. Isatou Njie  
Saidy,  Ajaratou, at the 62nd Session of the UN General Assembly. I will 
present   
the speech in its entirety (I will omit the first 3 Paragraphs of   
felicitations) interspersed with my review of it. I thank our  representative 
at  the UN 
for her participation on our  behalf.

The speech is relatively long so I will review it in its  paragraphs and in  
a 
numbered series. This therefore is the review of  the 4th paragraph  and it 
is 
numbered Review 1.

[Mr.  President, The mid-term review of the Millennium Declaration two years  
 
ago indicates that the Millennium Development Goals are far from  being  
attained in most of the developing world. This  notwithstanding, for us in 
The  
Gambia, our commitment to the MDGs is  unwavering. The overarching policy  
objective 
of the government,  under the leadership of his Excellency the  President of 
the Republic  of The Gambia Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh, is to reduce  poverty 
and  
achieve all the MGDs. We have just concluded a Second Poverty   Reduction 
Strategy Paper which clearly sets out our policy framework  for  achieving 
growth and 
poverty reduction despite our meagre  resources and  endowments, and despite 
the failure of several  partners to fulfil their pledges  of aid, debt 
relief, 
and market  access for African countries. The same mid-term  reviews showed 
that  
the commitments that were made in many fora by the  international  community 
in support of the MGDs in poor countries have not   translated into real 
resource flows into these countries. We therefore  call on  the international 
community to rededicate itself to the  provisions of the  Monterey concensus, 
and the 
Paris Declaration on  Aid Effectiveness. In this  regard, my delegation 
welcomes 
the panel  of eminent personalities established by  former British Prime  
Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, to monitor pledges made at the G8  summits  
including 
those made at the Gleneagles Summit. My Delegation  considers  it 
particularly 
critical to take action to reverse the  downward trend in  overseas 
development 
financing.]

I sit and  wonder whether there is a gap in understandings between the   
developped countries and the developing countries when it comes to the UN.  
Or is  it 
that Gambian officials have not read or did not understand  the Millennium  
Declaration. I had thought that my review of our  speech at the UN would be 
on  
the premise that we understand the  basic elements of the subject matter.  
However, our speech indicates  there may be a deficit of critical 
information.  
Therefore, I present  some relevant sources of information and I encourage 
all my   
coleagues to read these documents as we review our  state:
_http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html_  
(http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html)  
_http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/MDG%20Book.pdf_  
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/MDG%20Book.pdf) 

In September  2000, The UN Millennium Summit took place. 189 nations  
participated.  147 of those nations adopted some goals targeted to be  
accomplished by  
the year 2015. It was then up to those nations to devise  policies  and plans 
toward accomplishing those goals. The goals are 7 in  number  and to assist 
less 
able nations, they added an eighth goal to  form  development partnerships in 
their various journeys toward the  common goals. The  UN promised to 
undertake 
monitoring and  encouragement of these nations and  partnerships and so they 
produce  reports every so often to track progress. A  report was completed in 
 
2003, 2005, and recently in 2007. The second URL  above is the 2005  Report. 
The 
Millennium Declaration does not place any  obligation on  any participating 
nation to give anything to any other idiot. The   relevant development 
partnerships 
must be consulted to review promises  and  contracts among nations. It is 
sort 
of like a Pair Effort where  nations  associate themselves with other 
desiring 
nations and partner  toward achieving  the Global Millennium Goals.

Now then, as you  can see, the 8 goals are:
1. Eradicate extreme Poverty and hunger.
2.  Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower  women.
4. Reduce Child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6.  Combat HIV / AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental  sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.

It  is no accident that the goals appear in the order that they do. It means  
 
that goals 1 thru 7 must be achieved in tandem with goal 8 or perhaps  better 
 
before goal 8 can harness values. For example; you would not  expect Gambia  
to 
participate in trade anywhere on an equal footing  with Senegal if Gambia 
does 
not make any meaningful effort toward  eradicating extreme poverty and 
hunger,  achieving universal primary  education, promoting gender equality 
and the  
empowerment of women,  reducing child mortality, prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and  
malaria, in an  environmentally sustainable manner. Nor would you ask Spain 
to   
absorb Gambia's diseased and ill-prepared children. In effect, instead of  
lament  Gambia's lack of Millennium Development partners or donations  from 
more  
developed countries, I think the Vice President ought to  have shared what  
concrete steps her administration has taken in  achieving any of the goals  
of the 
MDG. In fairness to her, Ajaratou,  the vice president has shared that her  
administration has just (in  2007), concluded their second Poverty Reduction  
Strategy Paper. And  she shares that burden with her delegation to the UN. A  
question  then arises: Why since 2000 when the MDGs were adopted, that The 
Gambia   
government has only embarked on the production of policy papers? How   many 
strategic policy papers do they intend to produce before they  begin  
implementing 
any one of them? And are those strategy papers  dependent on gifts,  grants, 
and 
circumstance from generous  countries? How do they intend to find  those 
generous countries  therefore? I remembered an opportunity they squandered  
in 
receiving  aid from the US based on the Millennium Project. That aid went to  
Ghana  
instead and Ghana is putting it to good use. I recommend Gambia take  a  look 
at Ghana's representative's speech on this issue of beggars  and  spoilers.

I will give you an opportunity to digest the 2005  Millennium Development  
Progress Report by the UN before we review  Gambia's performance in detail. I 
 
caution good study and that this  review process could take a week or two.

Thank you coleagues for your  audience. Haroun Masoud. MQDT.  Darbo.     





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