Without stronger basic infrastructure, particularly better roads, water supplies, sanitation, electricity, information and communications technology and other essential services, developing countries will be hard-pressed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) president Haruhiko Kuroda.
The MDGs are eight internationally-agreed targets, set 10 years ago, aiming to reduce poverty, hunger, maternal and child deaths, disease, inadequate shelter, gender inequality and environmental degradation by 2015.
Countries of Asia and the Pacific are at a crucial point in driving forward progress to cut hunger and poverty and achieve higher levels of health and education by 2015, according to a new report launched on Wednesday at the start of a three-day summit on the MDGs at United Nations headquarters in New York.
?In the aftermath of the financial crisis, poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals should occupy centre stage of development strategies for countries in Asia and the Pacific,? said UN under-secretary-general and executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) Noeleen Heyzer.
?Lifting people out of poverty is an essential step in building domestic demand in Asia and sustaining global economic growth.?
The report also highlights the important role of basic infrastructure in achieving MDG targets that would help 1.9 million people in the region living without basic sanitation, 470 million without safe drinking water, and the quarter of all households without access to electricity.
One of the region?s greatest MDG successes has been a reduction in the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day from 1.5 billion to 947 million between 1990 and 2005. This success has been a significant contributor to global progress on cutting poverty and means the region as a whole is making strong progress in halving the proportion of people living in poverty, says the report.
The report notes that with the right actions and political will, the Asia and Pacific region ? which has rebounded from the global recession and has some of the world?s fastest economic growth rates ? can turn around and meet targets that it currently lags behind. It singles out areas where governments should act, including strengthening social safety nets for the poor; stimulating domestic demand and intra-regional trade; creating more inclusive and sustainable economic growth; ensuring access to financial services for the poor and marginalised; reducing persistent gender gaps; giving stronger support to least developed countries; and harnessing the potential of regional economic integration.