Uganda calls for broad partnership to achieve Millennium Development Goals

Global partnerships should be symbiotic rather than parasitic as was in the past when the development of some nations, especially in Africa, was derailed, said Kirunda Kivejinja, Third Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda.

Delivering the Ugandan President’s statement at the valedictory session of the Partnership Summit 2010 here on Sunday, Mr. Kivejinja said the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific poverty reduction targets the world had ever set.

Preferred destinations

Only socio-economic transformation through the expansion of industry, services and modernising agriculture could enable the world to sustainably achieve the MDGs and transcend them. For this, a broad partnership involving key stakeholders was required, he said.

The East African Community (EAC) with a population of 120 million, and Africa as a whole with a population of 900 million, were becoming the preferred destinations for investment by developed nations and emerging economies as government policies became more market-oriented, he said.

He called for all nations to partner with Uganda and Africa to achieve long-term, focused and holistic interventions towards the realisation of MDGs.

Crisis not over

Union Minister for Shipping G.K.Vasan said the summit provided a forum for the discussion of issues facing the Indian economy and the world.

Though there were indications of economic revival in the major economies of the world, the crisis was not over and the process of economic recovery should be facilitated, he said.

Ports handled 95 per cent of India’s total trade by volume and 70 per cent by value, and the Ministry of Shipping had finalised a National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) to implement specific programmes for the sector, he said.

Governor of Tamil Nadu Surjit Singh Barnala, who delivered the valedictory address, said India had to cope with the new trajectory of technology development by focusing on research and innovation.

Tamil Nadu was an excellent progenitor of research and the summit would provide a platform to combine technology and business, he said.