Kikwete upbeat on MDGs guidelines

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete said the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are significant guidelines in efforts to alleviate poverty in the world.

He said this during a meeting at the State House in Dar es Salaam on Thursday with UN Deputy Secretary General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro.

“The MDGs are vital guidelines because they reflect the day-to-day duties and obligations aimed at reduction of poverty and provide a summary of all what we deal with,” President Kikwete said.

 He said it was better for UN to continue advocating development agenda as a major issue of concern because it offered important focal point where all people meet and discuss major world issues.  He said if the development agenda became a success, even peace and security would be achieved because development disparities have been a major reason for conflicts which led to breaking of peace and harmony in the world.

In his greetings to President Kikwete delivered on his behalf by Dr Migiro, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon hailed Tanzania for the efforts in improving health standards which is one of the aspects in the MDGs.

“The UN Secretary General is satisfied with President Kikwete’s efforts to raise and improve mother and child health, insisting that the president’s leadership was vital in the realization of these goals,” Dr Migiro said.

She said

Tanzania was an important stakeholder in the formation of ‘A Draft Joint Action Plan’ to intensify and better coordinate existing efforts, build new commitments and establish an accountability framework for delivering results.The UN Secretary General has invited President Kikwete to attend the meeting in September, this year, for which there will also be a meeting of Heads of State who will discuss the steps reached so far in the implementation of MDGs.Earlier, President Kikwete sworn-in Deputy Permanent Secretaries for various ministries and later left for Morogoro Region for official activities among which he will participate in a fundraising function for Ebenezer Lutheran Junior Seminary in Morogoro.In the meantime, the UN Deputy Secretary General mentioned ‘Kilimo Kwanza’ as one of the efforts which UN recognizes in the country’s efforts to alleviate poverty.

“Kilimo Kwanza initiative is important because it does not only consider poverty reduction but also the whole issue of climate change,” she said when she met journalists in

Dar es Salaam.She also said that the UN was satisfied with efforts to promote good governance by cracking down on corruption especially at this point where the country was heading towards general elections later this year. 

This entry was posted on 30/07/2010 at 02:37 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.