Filip Kaczmarek to head EP delegation to UN MDG Summit

Filip Kaczmarek was today unanimously elected Chairman of the European Parliament delegation to the UN Summit dedicated to reviewing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to be held in New York on 24-25 September. Gay Mitchell MEP, Co-Coordinator for the EPP Group in the Development Committee, will also participate in the delegation.

The Summit in New York is the most important meeting for global development policy. Its participants should also put forward a 2-year strategy for the achievement of commitments in eradicating hunger, poverty, inequality and for the preparation of a post-2015 framework for development. 

"This is the most significant high-level meeting on development. It will, on the one hand, aim to determine the new development goals so essential for the eradication of poverty in the world, and, on the other hand, mobilise the international community to implement current targets. While thinking about the future we must not forget that there are still 2 years ahead of us, during which we should work hard in order to achieve our current commitments," said Filip Kaczmarek after his election to the post.

Filip Kaczmarek was Rapporteur on the future of the MDGs; in that role he stressed that eradicating poverty and ensuring sustainable development should be mandatory priorities for the future development policy agenda. New targets must be based on universal values such as human rights, democracy and good governance. More emphasis should be placed on the coherence of development policy. In his report, the MEP proposed that new development goals should to a larger extent reflect the situation of each individual country and be simple, concise and easy to communicate.