The world’s conflicts, crises and diplomatic dramas — from stumbling efforts to cut poverty to Iran’s nuclear drive and Pakistan’s flood disaster — will be debated and disputed by global leaders from tomorrow at the annual UN summit.
US President Barack Obama, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) will be among about 140 heads of state and government jostling for the limelight at a Millennium Development Goals (MDG) summit and then the UN General Assembly.
World leaders will have a hard time convincing doubtful aid agencies that they are serious about meeting the eight big development goals that were set at the Millennium summit in 2000 with a target date of 2015.
They will try at a review summit from tomorrow to Wednesday.
Targets such as cutting abject poverty by half, child under-five mortality by two-thirds, halting the spread of AIDS and empowering women are all looking too ambitious, according to experts.
However, none of the leaders is yet admitting defeat publicly.
“I know there is skepticism, but this MDG is a promise, a blueprint, by the world leaders to lift billions of people out of poverty. This must be met and delivered,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview ahead of the summit.
“Now how can we overcome this skepticism and actual difficulty on the ground? With the right mix of political leadership combined with resources, international aid. Then I think we can still achieve these goals,” he said.
Ban estimates that more than US$125 billion will be needed in the “final sprint” to 2015, as well as enormous political commitment.
However, a US official said: “This is not a time nor a venue when you will be hearing any significant new resource commitments from us nor others.”
And many aid groups are scathing at what they see as a lack of all those requirements.
“World leaders are heading toward an extraordinary collective failure unless they deliver an urgent rescue package to get the MDGs back on track, ensuring that nobody goes to be hungry and even the poorest can take their children to a doctor when they are sick,” Oxfam spokeswoman Emma Seery said.
The new UN General Assembly starts on Thursday with Obama, Wen and other leaders airing their criticisms and ideas on the Afghanistan War, Middle East peace, climate change, key independence votes in two Sudanese regions, terrorism, Iraq and host of other topics.
During the week, Ban will host a top level meeting on disarmament and foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US will discuss Iran’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment on Tuesday. No one should expect moves toward a fifth round of sanctions yet, a US official said.
NATO and Russian foreign ministers will also meet and scores of bilateral meetings will be held in New York hotels and conference rooms.
Sudan will be a recurring theme, with some UN envoys saying it will be the most important geostrategic topic for the rest of the year as the country prepares for two referenda on whether southern Sudan and another smaller region break away from the rest of the African giant.
Preparations for the votes are way behind schedule and in a sign that the international community expects action, Obama will be at a special meeting on Sudan on Thursday along with two Sudanese vice presidents and many African leaders.
“The Sudan dossier will be one of the top priorities. That is why I am convening the high level meeting on Sudan,” Ban said.
The UN chief will also hold ministerial meetings on peacekeeping, on Somalia, where the UN wants more peacekeepers to be sent to keep Islamist insurgents in check, and Myanmar, again facing criticism for banning the political party of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
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