The launch of the Millennium Development Goals Progress Report 2010 in Australia was hosted by the Australian Government at Parliament House, Canberra on June 24, 2010.
Mr. Christopher Woodthorpe, Director of the United Nations Information Canberra and Master of Ceremonies for the event, first acknowledged the traditional owners of the land, the Ngunnawal people and paid respects to their elders past and present.
He said it was fortunate to have three eminent speakers presenting at the launch; the Hon. Bob McMullan, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Mr. Knut Ostby, the UN Resident Coordinator, and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative from Fiji and Mr. Marc Purcell, Executive Director of the Australian Council for International Development.
In their presentations, the three speakers addressed a broad range of issues including challenges to reaching the MDG targets, the commitment of the global community towards reaching these targets and the progress that has already been made.
The Hon. Bob McMullan said, “the report is an important signpost for the upcoming MDG Summit in New York In September. The signpost says we should be proud of what we have done. We still need to do more and we should be ambitious about what we set out to do from here. The inspirational power of the MDGs will only endure if they have our commitment and support”, he added.
The next speaker, Mr. Ostby said, that the overall progress towards achieving the 2015 MDG targets in the Pacific is somewhat mixed. He said, “while there are some successes on a number of fronts worth noting, a great concern is the slow progress in reducing poverty (MDG 1) in the region”.
To conclude the proceedings the last speaker Mr. Purcell spoke on the progress of MDGs from the Australian NGO community perspective, saying, “more needs to be done to reach the MDG targets, and that the NGO community is committed to helping attain them. He then described some of the work that was being done on the ground in the Pacific to illustrate progress and challenges.
The launch was attended by members of civil society, Diplomatic Corps, students and government.
RC UNDP Mr Knut Ostby speaking to the report. L-R The Hon. Bob McMullan, Mr Marc Purcell, and Mr Woodthorpe