Myanmar wants more efforts for millennium development goals

Myanmar has called for intensified efforts and accelerated actions to fully achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the next two years.

Agreed upon by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000, the MDGs set specific targets on poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/ AIDS and malaria reduction, and a global partnership for development, all by the end of 2015.

Speaking at the annual general debate of the 68th UN general assembly session, which runs through Oct 1, Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin gave the call Monday.

"We are fast approaching the deadline for the MDGs. With less than 850 days to go, we are now in a sense of urgency to look back our past journey and chart the way forward," he said.

U Wunna Maung Lwin underlined that despite laudable advances made in meeting several of the global MDGs in last 13 years, there remains imbalance and variations in achievement across regions and within countries.

"Therefore, we need to intensify our efforts and accelerate actions to the full realisation of the MDGs in the remaining short span of time," he said.