General Ban Ki-moon has urged G-20 leaders to support development efforts in poor countries to accelerate their economic growth.
In his message issued ahead of the summit and obtained by PANA on Saturday, Ban stressed the need for the world leaders to step up efforts to eradicate poverty a nd achieve all the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He said concerns of the world’s most vulnerable should be the main priority of t he G-20 leaders.
â?We must recognise a simple fact: In today’s world, economic dynamism lies in emerging countries,â? he stated.
â?Like never before, global economic recovery depends on growth in developing c ountries. Economic uncertainty cannot be an excuse to slow down our development e fforts, it is a reason to speed them up,â? he said.
Early this week, the UN chief wrote an open letter in which he called on G-20 su mmit participants to devote attention to human development, green growth and the
needs of the most vulnerable in devising their economic recovery strategies.
He said high unemployment, rising food and commodity prices, and persistent ineq ualities had contributed to a substantial rise in hunger, poverty and associated
social tensions.
â?Now more than ever, investments for the world’s poorest are necessary to reco ver lost ground in the pursuit of development objectives, including the MDGs,â? Ban noted.
The secretary-general is scheduled to convene a high-level summit at the UN head quarters in New York in September to accelerate actions for the attainment of th e MDGs.
