Since last year when I addressed this forum the Millennium Campaign has established itself and contributed to putting the Millennium Goals at the core of the international development agenda. We have addressed a number of key events both in the North and the South, from WTO related events to the WSF and a number of national and regional conferences involving both CSOs, youth, academia, and not least parliamentarians. We now start to see the fruit of this work in terms of national campaigns emerging in a number of countries world wide. Local actors are increasingly making active use of the Millennium Goals in their work aimed at promoting sustainable development. A momentum has been created but there are still huge challenges ahead.

The message we are reiterating is that governments – both rich and poor – need to be held accountable to their pledges at the UN Millennium Summit. We know that the Millennium Goals are achievable – what is at stake is the political will. When Heads of State or Ministers go to international meetings they often sign on to a beautiful declaration and then they return back to their capitals for business as usual. Parliaments need to make their Governments accountable to their promises. Note here that the signatories are not just Development Ministers; it also means that Trade Ministers and Finance Ministers are committed to the Millennium pledges. So it is now up to Parliaments to scrutinize policies of their Finance and Trade Ministers. They need to ensure that positions of their Ministers in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the World Bank, in the World Trade Organization (WTO), at the UNGA and in the governing bodies of UN agencies are consistent with their commitments in the Millennium Declaration .

Since our last interaction the best news coming from the PNoWB has been its successful launch of the Parliamentary Implementation Watch (PIW). An entity mandated to promote and monitor progress on the Millennium Goals and in doing so to translate political commitments into real action on the ground. This is exactly what we in the Millennium Campaign would like to see happening. I therefore look very much forward to a close cooperation between the Campaign and the PIW on a number of issues relating to the active involvement of parliamentarians with the Millennium Goals. The fact of the matter is that the Goals make up a perfectly tailored framework for members of parliament and together we need to better exploit that potential.

About the goals

The Millennium Goals put human development back at the heart of the global agenda -where it belongs. They are aimed at halving the number of poor people, getting all girls into school, putting an end to child and maternal mortality, fighting HIV/AIDS and ensuring sustainable development. This is exactly the type of package that Parliamentarians should embrace because it can help you to reconnect with your electorates on these issues. Those of us from the development business finally came out of our ivory towers and moved away from talking in difficult abbreviations. Now we talk about things that people really understand.

The Millennium Goals are unique. One-hundred-and-eighty-nine Heads of State and Governments signed onto the Millennium Declaration at the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000. Never before and never since have so many world leaders come together to adopt and agree on something so important. The Millennium Goals came from the UN, but the they were warmly endorsed by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). They came from Governments but NGOs also embraced the package. Finally, after wasting thirty years of debating between North and South, between the UN and IFIs, between Governments and NGOs, we have a package that everybody endorsed.

Now there is a clear division of labour. Both rich and poor countries have to do their homework. The first 7 Goals are the primary responsibility of developing countries—to fight poverty, get girls into school, improve health systems, etc. The Millennium Goals explicitly recognize that poor countries cannot achieve these Goals unless rich nations deliver on Goal 8 (the global partnership for development). Goal 8 is about what rich countries should do on aid, debt relief, trade and technology transfers. At the International Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey, all parties again confirmed that each party has to do their homework; each has to pay their dues.