President Optimistic Indonesia Able To Achieve MDGs

Nusa Dua, Bali, March 28 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he was optimistic Indonesia would be able to achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. He made the statement in a press conference in the company of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Minister of International Development Justice Greening after the meeting of a UN High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the post-2015 development agenda here on Wednesday evening. President Yudhoyono co-chairs the panel with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and British prime minister David Cameron who was absent at the meeting this time. He said "I believe Indonesia would be able to achieve most of the targets by 2015. Some targets would be passed and others would be met." Indonesia still has two years to meet eight of the MDGs before 2015 and therefore the government would push for the achievement of targets which are difficult to achieve such as reducing maternity deaths in the rest of the time, he added. "We still have 2.5 years to improve, increase and make special policies with special budget to achieve the MDGs," he said. Efforts would be boosted to achieve targets that have not been met so far, he added. Last year before attending the Rio-20 Summit President Yudhoyono predicted that more than half of the countries in the world would not be able to meet all the MDGs by 2015. Eight of the MDGs that would not be fully met by all countries are reducing absolute poverty, providing basic education, empowering women, gender equality, reducing child and maternity deaths, overcoming contagious diseases such as HIV and malaria, good environment management and international cooperation for achieving MDGs. In view of the fact world leaders again gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 20-22 to hold the Rio+20 conference to assure that the commitment put in the MDGs framework would really bring significant changes for the world community. The MDGs were the commitment of the world`s leaders declared in September 2000, which has to be achieved by 2015.