The Millennium Development Goals

We Maltese are used to being on the receiving end when it comes to development aid and funding of big national projects. Examples from the past that come to mind are financial agreements with the British government, soft loans from China and more recently grants which came to us via the Italian protocol.

Very often the ruling government's success rating has been assessed according to how much financial aid was obtained from one country or another. As one of the new and needier members of the European Union and thanks to some tough negotiating by our current government, Malta is now expected to reap the benefits of membership in the form of cohesion funds. However, belonging to the club also brings with it certain obligations. And, as our Foreign Minister, Michael Frendo, stated recently, the time has come to make this clear and understood.

The Maltese public's generosity has been lauded over and over again and rightly so. Its wholehearted support of most fund-raising activities and its active participation within our NGOs is irrefutable.

Now Malta has to do its bit on an official level as a nation within the fold of the EU with pride and conviction. Malta and the other new EU member countries have promised to contribute 0.33 per cent of its GNI by 2013 in a strong effort towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2000.

It is of the utmost importance for the average Maltese person to know and understand what the UN's Millennium Development Goals are. These goals are directed towards reducing global poverty by half by the year 2015 - thus feeding and saving the lives of millions of the world's poorest people.

The EU as a first donor of humanitarian aid and commercial partner of the developing countries is committed to fighting poverty and therefore so is Malta.

Our government is currently planning its development policy for the next few years and we have now become official donors.

The eight MDGs were adopted by the UN to combat poverty, hunger and disease, discrimination against women, degradation of land and illiteracy.

MCG 1 - Eradicate poverty and hunger.

This means slowing down population growth and increasing economic growth.

MDG 2 - Achieve universal primary education.

The aim is to have more educational resources per child, reduce child labour and enlarge opportunities throughout adolescence and adulthood.

MDG 3 - Promote gender equality and empower women.

Increasing life opportunities for women and good reproductive health programmes for both men and women would also result in less domestic violence.

MDG 4 - Reduce child mortality.

In order to lower the risk of infant morbidity and mortality, improved knowledge about hygiene, baby-feeding and child-bearing practices and better parental skills is necessary.

MDG 5 - Improve maternal health.

To reduce maternal morbidity and mortality emergency obstetric and antenatal care needs to be available.

MDG 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

It is essential to give better information on contraction and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and increase public knowledge regarding sexual health.

MDG 7 - Ensure environmental sustainability.

The goal is to make better sustainable use of space and land and to ease pressure on existing infrastructure by discouraging migration to crowded slum areas and improving accessibility to food and water and other essential social services.

MDG 8 - Develop a global partnership for development.

This last goal seeks to develop an open trading and financial system. It addresses the special needs of landlocked and small island developing countries (LDCs). It aims to create productive youth employment, provide affordable medicine and spread the benefits of new technologies.

The G8 have pledged to increase their financial aid and support towards reaching these goals and 18 of the world's poorest nations have had their debts written off. More countries are expected to offer to share the burden of reducing global poverty by promising more aid.

Never before has the Maltese nation been involved in such a huge and ambitious humanitarian project. Every single one of us should be proud to be part of it.