Malta has joined the UN in acknowledging the need to give a greater push to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which consist of eight targets to eradicate poverty, hunger, ­illi-teracy and disease and engage in partnership for development.

“The achievement of these goals would ensure populations in middle- and low-income countries, including the small and fragile states, would enjoy the basic essentials and necessities of a decent life,” Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said.

He was speaking during the UN High-Plenary Meeting in New York on Wednesday, where he pointed out that although the MDGs were established during relatively stable times, the world was now treading uncharted territory.

“As we move closer to 2015 (the initiative’s target date), it is more than likely that the international community will have to devise and adopt an adjusted framework, as well as innovative approaches in the search and mobilisation of development mechanisms to respond to these changes,” he said.

However, he warned that development was not possible without building an environment of security and cooperation.

Malta believed it was vital that the examination of the MDGs’ success and failures should be a constant process reflecting the changing situation. The focus had to be on offering support for sustainable progress to bring down poverty.

Highlighting Malta’s commitment to achieving these goals, he said the island’s development policy primarily focused on countries in the Horn of Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, which, he pointed out, were ­facing major obstacles and ­difficulties in attaining the MDGs.

Moreover, in the past two years, Malta had co-financed humanitarian projects in Africa, Asia and Central America to address the most basic needs of the population.