Nearly 100 Chinese and foreign participants gathered in Beijing
on Thursday to discuss new methods of education and training in a
bid to attain the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The conference, with the theme of promoting the role of
education and training in attaining MDGs, drew representatives from
the UN, non-government organizations (NGOs) from Asian, African and
Latin American countries, and academics.
Addressing the conference, Wang Zhongyu, president of the China
Economic and Social Council (CESC), said the MDGs embody the
aspiration of the human beings towards a better life, and the
common faith of promoting world peace, stability and realizing
mutual benefits.
Only by uniting each other, can countries in the world build a
harmonious society with sustained development and common
prosperity, he said.
Wang, also vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference, proposed that countries take effective
measures to strengthen the UN's role in promoting international
cooperation on development, and make full use of the leading and
coordinating role of the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC).
He also suggested the establishment of a "fair," "reasonable"
and "efficient" framework to evaluate the progress of attaining
MDGs. Wang called for NGOs and educational circles of various
countries to enhance cooperation.
Wang said it is crucial to jointly carry out training programs
by higher institutions and NGOs. "Under the new circumstances, we
need to find new ways and mechanisms to promote the attainment of
MDGs," he said.
Many participants hold that the development of an education
course is a strategic method to realize MDGs. They suggested the
countries should adjust their education system and modernize
training methods.
Initiated during the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, the MDGs
include reducing by half the proportion of people suffering from
poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education,
eliminating gender disparity, reducing child mortality by two
thirds and maternal mortality by three quarters, halting and
reversing the incidence of major diseases, and reducing by a half
the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water.
(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2006)
