UN chief leaves for Madrid for Millennium Development Goals meeting

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon is scheduled to leave for Spain late Thursday to attend a meeting aimed at preparing for a summit in September on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the internationally accepted targets of poverty reduction, better education and promoted gender equality to be reached by 2015.

"The secretary-general is leaving tonight for Madrid, Spain, where he will attend the first meeting of the Millennium Development Goals Advocacy Group this Friday," Farhan Haq, the UN associate spokesman, told reporters here.

Ban will meet with the eminent personalities that make up this Group, Haq said. "He is expected to tell them that they are there to help translate the rhetoric of good intentions into results. He will also stress the need to identify strategic opportunities and build awareness in the fight against poverty and in reaching the Millennium Development Goals."

The Madrid meeting is convened to prepare for the MDGs summit which the secretary-general plans to host in September at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Earlier this month, the UN spokesman said that Ban would visit Geneva to take part in the Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliament to be held on July 19-21.

Source: Xinhua