Delegates Vote on the Top Three MDG with Eradicating Extreme Poverty & Hunger as the Top Goal

After the final votes of the Summit, it was concluded that the top three goals are as follows:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Develop global partnership for development  

The unified opinions of nations prove the diplomacy of the summit in hearing out the voices of the delegates. Russia, Saudi Arabia and Syria had the same top three goals in different order, while India, Brazil, and the United States had Eradicating poverty, combating disease and achieving environmental sustainability as their top three (not in order).

The US delegates consider this summit to be a space for change makers, tweeting that “Today the US renews its commitment to achieving world progress” on the MDGTimes Twitter Account. The German delegates believe that supporting the environment will support the free world.

Citizens showed concern and frustration with the opinions of their delegates. Frustration of the Syrian citizens was the most prevalent with fear and concern about the lack of attention towards safety, security and combating  terrorism. “People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer to fulfilment. Actually a job is better for me”, one delegated Tweeted on the MDGTimes Twitter Account.

Delegates' Speeches: The Preliminary Results

The eight nations just presented their speeches stating their top three goals. Having health as an overarching goal, the United States of America believes that eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is their number one priority, with combating disease and ensuring environmental sustainability as their second and third respectively. Being a developed country Germany aspires to ensure environmental sustainability, develop a global partnership as their second goal and achieve gender equality as their third. The Russian delegates voiced their concerns regarding extreme poverty and hunger while also stating their second and third goals being to combat disease and promote gender equality. Similar to the Russia, the Indian delegates also believe eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is the goal needing the most urgency. Promoting gender equality and achieving environmental sustainability came as their second and third goals respectively. Brazil believes that eradicating extreme poverty and hunger should be the number one goal, with the second goal being achieving universal primary education and ensuring environmental sustainability as their third. Saudi Arabia on the other hand had developing a global partnership for development as their first goal, achieving universal primary education as their second, and eradicating extreme poverty as their third. Although living in a war situation, the Syrian delegates still believed in the importance of achieving universal primary education, eradicating extreme poverty and developing a global partnership for development. Lastly, similar to Syria Uganda believes in the importance of achieving universal primary education, combating disease, and improve maternal health. The results showed a unified voice regarding certain issues creating hope for a global agreement on many issues.

Introducing National Delegates for the Emergency Meeting

The UN announces the beginning of its 2015 MDG Summit. The Summit aims to revisit the Millennium Goals set in 2000 then choose the top three requiring immediate action. Eight nations are represented in the summit, and based on consensus the nations will choose three goals to fast-track. Jasmine Brown -President of the US Peace Corps, and Jessica Bonnett –Political Science Department Chair at Harvard University are the two delegates coming from the United States of America. Felix Metke -Head of the Green Party, and Zora Piskacova -CEO of Volkswagen, coming from Germany; From Brazil, Director of WHO Brazil Nicole Wolosker, and director of ECOSOC Maria Cely Pinzon are representing their nation at the summit. The Russian delegates at the summit are the Director of UNESCO in Russia Sydney Weyand, and Matteo Sansone –the Under-Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Alexander Ely the Saudi Ambassador in the UK is representing Saudi Arabia. Julie Gregory and Tamara Grasty, two delegates with 20 years of experience in diplomacy are coming from India. Last but not least, the delegates from Syria and Uganda are as follows respectively, Political Science Professor at Damascus University Sima Tabbaa, and Human Rights Lawyer Savannah Hillebrand; WHO Ugandan Representative Kirsten Murphy along and Head of Ugandan start-up clinics Dr. Holly Stokes. The delegates will represent the citizens of their nations to diplomatically discuss and openly choose the three goals with most urgency.  The UN MDG summit aspires to create an international arena where all voices are heard when making decisions with global influence. 

Summit Announces Emergency Session

The Office of Communication for the Millennium Development Goals announces an Emergency Session for the Millennium Development Goals Summit. The meeting is to be held on Monday, February 16^th, 2015. The goal of the meeting is to fast track 3 of the 8 MDGs (as decided in 2000). It is the position of the Summit that the state of the world--environmentally, politically, economically, and socially—requires fast action. The Summit believes that decided and acting upon the 3 most important goals is the only route to effective action.

For review

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals established during the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000. All 189 United Nations member states at the time attended and participated in creating the following Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015:

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. To achieve universal primary education
3. To promote gender equality and empower women
4. To reduce child mortality
5. To improve maternal health
6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. To ensure environmental sustainability
8. To develop a global partnership for development