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Years ago, the UN announced its ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015
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Overall, there was, and has been since, considerable if not total success in meeting them
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MDGs – by 20151. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger2. Achieve universal primary education3. Promote gender equality and empower women4. Reduce child mortality5. Improve maternal health6. Combat HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases7. Ensure environmental sustainability8. Develop a global partnership for development
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Global goals now needed are:
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The G20 should focus on growing the world GDP pie so that all populations can not only survive but enjoy life – GDP growth is not a zero sum activity – if one nation betters itself, this is not at the expense of another
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G20 economic aims should thus be:
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To continue to grow their own GDPs by an average of say 2% per annum over the next 10 to 15 years
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To greatly increase the GDP of each poorer GRoW nation – say by at least 5%, if not more, per annum over the same period
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That way the GDP and prosperity of the GRoW nations would steadily close on the G20, but the G20 would not have to stand still waiting for them
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To achieve such goals, the G20 should focus on helping the GRoW nations to help themselves and increasing trade with them all
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In short, there has to be a collective focus on global productivity improvement – more output and better outcomes for everyone from limited global resources
- · Clearly, such goals were most laudable, and action taken certainly had some success
- · But the UN can’t meet such goals on its own – it has to rely on the richer G20 nations for funds and resources
- · And asking G20 nations, individually and collectively, to provide substantial funds for poorer nations is difficult in practice, especially nowadays post 2008