The Vietnamese President and other leaders from 193 UN member countries and 19 international organisations attended the event.

In his speech, Mr Triet underscored the positive results of implementing MDGs as seen in improving the lives of hundreds of million of people including those living in the world’s poorest nations. The most valuable lesson is that these goals should be included in developed countries’ international cooperation and development strategies. By doing so, the international community can mobilise more resources through new policies and measures issued at national and international levels.

Regarding Vietnam’s MDGs, Mr Triet said that Vietnam has achieved many ahead of schedule and is likely to fulfill its remaining goals by 2015.

Vietnam’s impressive achievements in reducing poverty, universalising primary education, promoting gender equality, improving maternal health care, controlling malaria and other epidemics have been acknowledged by the UN and international organisations. Vietnam has already integrated its MDGs into the country’s socio-economic development strategies and plans.

More than 1 billion people around the world still live in poverty and most regions are unlikely to fulfill their MDGs on schedule if no new measures are taken. Against this background, Mr Triet reaffirmed Vietnam’s support for specific solutions and measures to achieve every goal of the summit’s action programme. Consequently, every country should settle international conflicts by peaceful means and create the best possible conditions for promoting friendship and preventing war and the use of violence, said Mr Triet.

President Triet proposed measures to expand international cooperation to support developing countries to build policies and increase their management capacity.

Developed countries need to carry out their commitments and stabilise the macro-economy to conclude the Dolha round talks successfully, abolishing unfair trade measures and contribute more to development assistance.

Over the past few years, Vietnam has called for an end to the US economic embargo on Cuba and promote South-South cooperation with Southeast Asian nations and other regions.

After ten years of implementing their MDGs, many countries have grasped new opportunities and have become aware of the importance of multilateral cooperation, in which the UN plays a key role.

With determination, creativity and closer cooperation, the world will achieve its MDGs, Mr Triet noted.

Vietnam gains impressive poverty reduction

Vietnam has done well in reducing poverty, said UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, John Hendra

At a press briefing on Vietnam’s MDGs in Hanoi the same day, Mr Hendra said  among all MDGs, Vietnam has made the most impressive progress in poverty reduction (MDG1), reducing the poverty rate from 58.1 percent in 1990 to 14.5 percent in 2008.

The number of hungry households in the country dropped by two thirds from 24.9 percent in 1993 to 6.9 percent in 2008, he said.

The country has also made remarkable progress in ensuring universal primary education with 97 percent of its told children going to primary schools, 88.5 percent them finishing five years of primary education and 90 percent continuing to study at higher levels of education.

 The rate of working women is estimated to reach 83 percent in 2010 and Vietnam is now one of the region’s leading countries with high rates of women’s participation in parliament (25.8 percent) of its NA deputies being female.

The UN official praised the Vietnamese Government’s commitments and efforts by integrating its MDGs into the country’s socio-economic development plans, building development policies for the poor and creating more jobs for workers.

However, he also stressed that to maintain this, Vietnam needs to define and address the disparities arising from the development process and anticipate possible risks.

According to John Hendra, while the country has reached or is on its way to fulfilling almost all its MDGs, the target for HIV is likely to be missed if access to services is not improved, especially for groups at high risk.

The Vietnamese government’s budget for HIV prevention at national and local levels needs to be increased with a focus on effective measures to ensure the sustainability of prevention work, he said.

Regarding education and training, the UN representative said that Vietnam should ensure poor people’s access to educational services and encourage families to invest more in the education of their children, especially girls.