Millennium Development Goals remain ‘unfinished business’

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Dr. Carlos Lopes has told Global leaders that despite signs of improvements, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remain, overall “unfinished business.”

He said this during a panel discussion on the post-2015 development agenda at the 4th Global Review of Aid for Trade in Geneva, a statement has said.

“Africa appears on track with respect to achieving universal primary education and gender parity in education, but progress has been insufficient in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and reducing child and maternal mortality,” he said.

He argued, however, that harnessing trade for diversification requires redressing the wide array of constraints that undermine the competitiveness of African firms and as such, “the Aid for Trade initiative is a step in the right direction, though there is a need to move beyond the traditional donor-recipient logic.”

Dr. Lopes further contended that a renewed approach to the quest for development finance is needed: one that he stressed “must move beyond the donor-recipient dichotomy, and focus on harnessing the potential synergies and complementarities across different actors, both public and private, at global, regional, and domestic level.”

By Dorcas Appiah