The Chairman of the African Union Commission Jean Ping has warned that many African nations will not meet the United Nations' poverty reduction goals if the current high food prices and global financial turmoil persist.
In 2000, members of the UN set goals to reduce by half the number of people living on less than one dollar a day, halve the number of people suffering from hunger and boost development aid by 2015. It was christened Millennium Development Goals, MDGs.
“It is very sad to note that many African countries will not be able to achieve the MDGs by 2015 unless the food crisis is addressed,” Ping told officials at a meeting held to forge greater co-operation between UN agencies and the AU, as well as other continental bodies like the New Partnership for African Development and the African Development Bank, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa
“The current global financial crisis is also likely to adversely impact on African economies, including the price of food, foreign direct investment as well as export earnings,” he said.
In addition to reducing poverty and improving trade conditions, the MDGs focus on reducing child mortality, fighting diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and other problems that plague the developing world.
According to some estimates, around 100 million people may have been pushed back into poverty by sharp increase in food prices over the past year.
