EU must move from words to action on MDGs

By Jennifer Malo in New York - 21st September 2010

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The glitz? Check. The glamour? Check. The outrageous? Check. Yep, New York City has it all.

And with the millennium development goals review summit kicking off at UN HQ on Monday, the city is a-buzz with the sirens of New York's finest - the NYPD - as visiting dignitaries are whisked to their various engagements.

Of course, those same sirens are also serving to keep out the riffraff, with areas around 1st avenue under lock-down. No badge = no go.

So, where does that leave the masses who have descended on the city specifically for the summit? At the many side events taking part on the sidelines, that's where. And, if truth be told, that's probably no bad thing.

With the summit outcome document decided weeks ago, there's unlikely to be anything ground-breaking going down at the summit proper. Barroso had already played the commission's hand at his "state of the union" address to MEPs earlier in the month, when he promised to pledge a further €1bn in support of the MDGs.

And French president Nicolas Sarkozy's support for a financial transaction tax was already well known - it was hardly a great "reveal" that he would be pushing for it during his time as president of the G8 and G20.

Let's be honest: nobody's going to stand up and say that the MDGs - the eight targets identified as the means by which we can start to free the world of extreme poverty - are a bad thing. Of course, all the right noises are coming out of UN HQ - we have made progress but are still off track, the MDGs are achievable but more needs to be done. There's nothing new in that assessment.

This probably seems like a fairly negative view of one of the year's largest international gatherings. But don't get me wrong. While the MDG summit may not be big news outside official circles, the truth is that it really is quite important.

What's all the fuss about? Quite a lot really. Imagine it this way. Where will you be in five years? How will your life have changed? Maybe you'll have bought a house, maybe changed jobs, started a family, divorced a family, lost your job, gone back to school. Hopefully for you, you won't have died, contracted a preventable disease, or find yourself in the depths of abject poverty.

In five years time, world leaders are supposed to have halved the number of people living in extreme poverty. I told you it was a big deal. But I guess that's what they get paid the big bucks for. At least it should be.

So what are they going to do? The answer is easy - or at least it seems to be to me. They need to make sure that all the pretty words and promises become actions and results.

World leaders must make sure that the cynics out there are not proved right. It must be more than just a talking shop. But they must do so not for their own sake - they must do it for the millions of lives depending on it. I guess all that's left to do now is sit back and wait...