Regional MDG Report: Progress 2007

For the Millennium Development Goals 2007 is a critical year – half way towards the target date of 2015. This is therefore a good point to take stock. Are we at least half way towards meeting the goals? This report addresses this question for the Asia-Pacific region, assessing how successful we have been in moving towards each of the goals and their associated targets, and signalling what would be required to turn this historical moment into an historical opportunity – to fulfil the spirit and the promises of the Millennium Declaration.

This update is the latest in a series of regional progress reports. It builds on earlier assessments: A Future within Reach (2005) and The Millennium Development Goals: Progress in Asia and the Pacific, 2006. In addition, this report has a special focus on disparities – identifying some of the groups that are not sharing fully in national progress, and advocating for inclusive growth.

The report has been prepared on a tripartite basis between ESCAP, ADB and UNDP – an initiative that allows the agencies to speak with a common voice on the MDGs, helping to establish a consolidated regional platform that can support clear and mutually consistent plans of action.

We hope that this systematic cross-regional view in this report will serve as a reference point – allowing countries to compare their progress with other parts of the region, so that they, along with international, regional and national organizations, can then look behind the numbers, identifying the causes of uneven progress, both between and within countries, and exploring the necessary institutional and policy changes.

As this report shows, some of the poorest countries in the region have been able to make significant advances, even in the most difficult circumstances. With sufficient determination and commitment, these experiences can be replicated across all countries and across all the goals so that everyone benefits from MDG progress – ensuring that no-one is left behind.