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Another Great Leap Forward for Development

Next month, the world will achieve a milestone for global development efforts. The UN General Assembly will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious set of global objectives expected to improve the lives of millions of people by 2030.

MADRID – Next month, the world will achieve a milestone for global development efforts. The United Nations General Assembly will adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious set of global objectives expected to improve the lives of millions of people by 2030.

The fact that the SDGs are being established on the UN’s 70th anniversary could not be more appropriate. Though the UN’s record over the last seven decades has not been perfect, with many instances of inadequate responses, its success in engaging the world in the pursuit of shared objectives like development has been impressive.

In 2000, the UN adopted a development agenda underpinned by the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and guided by the principle that no one should have to suffer the consequences of extreme poverty. At that time, very few people believed that the goals could be attained by the 2015 target date. But, although poverty has not been eliminated, there has been significant progress – and some major victories.

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