Enlarge imageBy Adrian Croft
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged governments, businesses and volunteer groups on Tuesday to unite in a show of "people power" to put the world back on track toward slashing extreme poverty by 2015.
Brown’s call for a new drive to meet the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals was endorsed by 12 world leaders and 20 top businessmen and women.
His speech at U.N. headquarters demonstrated a belief in international cooperation to tackle poverty, a day after he held his first talks at Camp David with U.S. President George W. Bush, which focused on more contentious issues such as Iraq.
Brown described a "development emergency" as the world falls behind the U.N. targets for transforming the lives of billions of people in poor countries.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
"The goals the world has set are not being met ... and we need emergency action if we are to meet them," Brown said, watched by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"We are calling on all -- not just governments, but also private sector, civil society and faith groups -- to come together in a worldwide initiative ... to help accelerate progress," he said.
Brown, who succeeded Tony Blair as prime minister in June, called the broad alliance he was seeking "people power."
He urged agreement this year on a global trade deal that delivers for the poor and for agreement on the outline of a bold plan to counter climate change.
Brown launched his initiative a month after a progress report found most of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals were far from being met.
WORLD LEADERS
Brown’s call to put the Millennium Goals back on track was endorsed by leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The goals were also endorsed by business leaders including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, Riley Bechtel, chairman of Bechtel, John Chambers, chairman of Cisco Systems and Niall Fitzgerald, chairman of Reuters.
Brown, the others leaders and business figures called for a U.N. meeting to be held next year bringing together heads of government with leaders from the private sector, voluntary and faith groups to speed up action on the development goals.
The goals, adopted at a U.N. summit in 2000, include halving the number of people living on less than $1 (49 cents) a day by 2015, achieving universal primary education, reducing child and maternal mortality, stopping the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and halving the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation.
