Speech by Minister of State for Development Cooperation and Human Rights at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Conor Lenihan TD at the launch of the UN Millennium Project Report

May I first of all welcome you all here this evening to mark the publication of Jeffery Sachs's report ' Investing in Development; a practical plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals', launched yesterday in New York.  In accepting the report the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan said;

"The result is a major intellectual achievement - a compelling work that offers a large number of concrete, practical proposals for reaching the Millennium Development Goals by the agreed date of 2015."

From my perspective what is most welcome in the report is its practicality and realism.
The Project's research shows not only that Millennium Development Goals set in 2000 can still be achieved by 2015, but also how it can be done, in rigorous technical detail. It is the first time that a comprehensive costing exercise has been done and the Project experts conclude that the Goals can be achieved with an investment of just one half of one percent of the incomes of the industrialized countries—well within the international aid targets wealthy countries have already promised to meet.

The full speech can be read here.