From the Millennium Summit to 2015: the challenges ahead.

• Author: Nujoma, Sam
• Position: Millennium Development Goals

When Heads of State and Government met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 8 September 2000, we reflected on many previous resolutions and declarations made at the international, continental, as well as regional levels. We realized then, and we know now, that almost all of them centred on the now famous Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were the core of the UN Millennium Declaration. During the Summit, we agreed to "spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty". We further committed ourselves to "making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire race from want".

The Millennium Declaration sets out within a single framework key policy issues that require action by Governments, the private sector and civil society. It advocates the way forward to mobilize resources and establishes concrete measures for assessing performance by UN Member States through a set of interrelated goals on peace, development, governance, human security and human rights. The MDGs cover all spheres of development aims, notably, that:

* Economic development is an extricable part of human development.

* Peace and stability are prerequisites.

* Good governance is essential for human development.

* Human rights, equality and equity are fundamentals of human development.

* The MDGs represent the most critical challenges facing humanity for its development.

Looking back seven years ago, I vividly remember the leadership that Namibia provided in formulating and coordinating the collective commitment of world leaders contained in the historic UN Millennium Declaration, which serves as one of the instructive indicators of how far our country has progressed since then.

Members of the United Nations family had been for decades true friends and dependable allies to our people until we won our freedom and independence. What we did in return was a small token of our gratitude to one and all. The right thing for us to strive for is a strong partnership for world peace, human security and sustainable development. And that is what the Millennium Declaration and its goals and targets call for.

Namibia is proud to have served the global community, when we assumed the presidency of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly, through the capable leadership of comrade Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab. On my part, I take particular pride in having jointly...