Obama commits US to new development goals at UN summit

US President Barack Obama committed the US to achieving global development goals at a United Nations summit, vowing to reduce inequality and create opportunities around the world.

"In doing so, we recognise that our most basic bond -- our common humanity -- compels us to act," Obama said at the three-day Sustainable Development Summit that ended here at the UN Headquarters in New York on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Friday, world leaders adopted at the summit the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030.

Obama said the world suffers no illusions of the challenges ahead in achieving the goals, but "we understand this is something that we must commit ourselves to".

In his defense of the 15-year plan, Obama said some 800 million people are scraping by on less than $1.25 a day and billions of people are at risk of dying from preventable diseases.

In his address, the US president also warned against bad governance and inequality, among others, which threaten the achievement of the ambitious goals.

Obama also urged some countries to abandon old attitudes, especially those that deny rights and opportunity to women.