Keeping the promise: 'tangible progress' reported on children's summit goals.

• Position: Special UN round table meeting to observe third anniversary of UN World Summit for Children convenes September 30, 1993 in New York, New York

A special high-level round table on "Keeping the Promise to Children", marking the third anniversary of the historic World Summit for Children, was convened by the UN Secretary-General in New York on 30 September.

Attended by eight Heads of State or Government, 14 Foreign Ministers and Special Envoys and other dignitaries, participants discussed how to improve the lot of the world's children by turning the Summit's promises into action.

At the Summit, more than 70 Heads of State or Government and 88 highlevel delegations from 158 countries adopted a set of goal; for children for the 1990s, contained in the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, and in the accompanying Plan of Action to implement the World Declaration.

Some regional summits had identified mid-decade goals which, if implemented, could save the lives of an additional 2 million children a year by 1996, James P. Grant, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), told the seminar. If successful, our sprint towards the mid-decade goals would do more for the well-being of children, in a shorter period of thirties and at lower cost, than any other undertaking in

If the problems of mothers and children are not addressed, social development cannot be achieved", said Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh, Co-Chairman of the round table.

Co-chairman Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, President of Nicaragua, said that the mid-decade goals could be achieved by 1995, including elimination of neo-natal tetanus and of poliomyelitis in selected regions, virtual elimination of vitamin A deficiency, universal iodization of salt, 80 per cent use of oral rehydration therapy, and making all hospitals baby-friendly".

President Chamorro, while presenting a summary of round table discussions, underscored the importance of a funding strategy for implementing the Summit goals known as "20/20 vision": developing countries redirect at least 20 per cent of their budgets to children's basic needs, while industrialized countries earmark 20 per cent of their development assistance for the same purpose.

A 2 September report (A/48/321) of the UN Secretary-General indicated that...