1 Dr. Noeleen Heyzer Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP MDG Priorities in Asia and the Pacific

2 Key ESCAP Resources on MDGs

3 Impressive progress Impressive gains in many MDG indicators, especially in reducing poverty. Between 1990 and 2005, the number of poor people declined from 1.5 billion to 947 million The region is also on track for another key target namely universal access to primary school Asia and the Pacific is an early achiever for some targets Reducing gender disparities in primary and tertiary education Halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water Stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis Reducing consumption of ozone-depleting substances

4 But the region is lagging behind for some important targets Slow progress on many others such as –In reducing hunger –In achieving higher standards of health –In ensuring that girls and boys complete the primary education –In reducing child mortality –In improving maternal health –In providing basic sanitation Need to step up efforts

5 Country groups on and off track for the MDGs Status of achievement for 21 indicators based on latest internationally comparable data for sub-regions

6 Considerable variation between country groupings and sub-regions The regions 14 least developed countries have made slow or no progress on most indicators Performing well only on gender equality in primary and secondary education and in reducing the prevalence of HIV and AIDS and TB. The greatest progress has been made by South-East Asia which has already achieved nine out of the 21 assessed indicators and is on track for another four The North and Central-Asian countries (including Russian Federation) are also early achievers for eight of the indicators

7 South Asia is an early achiever or on track for nine indicators but is progressing only slowly on many others The Pacific Island countries have also been less successful, regressing or making no progress in 11 indicators and advancing only slowly in another three Also moving forward slowly on expanding access to improved sanitation facilities and safe drinking water Considerable variation between country groupings and sub-regions

8 The Proportion of undernourished has fallen only slightly The total number of hungry people barely changed. Source: FAO Undernourishment by Regions % of populationmillions Asia and the Pacific East Asia Southeast Asia South Asia Central Asia81046 Western Asia Oceania Latin America and the Caribbean Near East and North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Developing World WORLD

9 Creating jobs and increasing incomes Boosting agricultural production Maintaining stable and reasonable food prices Providing safety nets for the poor Implementing feeding programmes Strategies to Reduce Hunger and Improve Food Security

10 Improving Basic Services such as Health and Education is a Key for Achievement of Many MDGs Investing more in basic services Ensuring social inclusion and equal access to social services Giving priority to maternal and child health

11 Strengthening basic infrastructure Achieving the MDGs in the region will require stronger basic infrastructure, particularly road transport, water supply, sanitation, electricity, information technology, telecommunications and urban low- income housing The linkage between poverty reduction and infrastructure has been established through several regional studies. Better rural roads, for example, expand markets for marginal and small farmers and thus reduce rural poverty They also allow households better access to schools and health centres.

12 Infrastructure gaps in the Asia-Pacific Infrastructure gaps in Asia-Pacific are wide between countries and within countries e.g. –About 23% of households still without access to electricity – About 24% of rural population do not have access to all-season roads Closing infrastructure gaps For , the needs are nearly $800 billion per annum Also an opportunity to generate additional aggregate demand for sustaining the regions dynamism in post-crisis world Scope for regional cooperation in infrastructure development Regional financial architecture could assist in efficiently mobilizing regional savings for closing these gaps

13 Seven key drivers for accelerating progress towards MDGs Rebalancing Asia-Pacific economies in favour of greater domestic consumption Making economic growth more inclusive and sustainable Strengthening social protection Reducing persistent gender gaps Ensuring financial inclusion Boosting international economic assistance and Exploiting the potential of South-South cooperation and regional cooperation

14 Towards 2015 The list of drivers is by no means exhaustive Each country has to address its own specific needs and opportunities They can help accelerate progress towards many of the goals where the progress has been slow in order to sectoral priorities

15 Copy of presentation can be downloaded at: