NPC starts MDGs countdown

National Planning Commission (NPC), United Nations (UN) country team and partners have started the countdown of the target date to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from today.

Though Nepal has been on the path to achieving some of the MDGs, it is a vital moment in history’s largest and most successful anti-poverty push — the 1,000-day mark before the target date to achieve the MDGs targets.

"Nepal has made great progress since the Millennium Development Goals were set, but we still need to work together to reach all MDGs before 2015," said vice chair of NPC Deependra Bahadur Kshetry.

"I would like to call on everybody — the government, UN, civil society and the people of Nepal — to create momentum throughout these 1,000 days to achieve the MDGs in Nepal," he added.

Nepal is likely to achieve many MDGs targets like reducing the proportion of people living below the national poverty line, achieving 100 per cent enrollment in primary education, reducing child and maternal mortality, and access to improved drinking water facilities.

However, targets related to achieving full and productive employment, reducing hunger — stunting and under-weight children — and improving the environment will be difficult to achieve. Extra efforts are also required to ensure that progress is equitably distributed to reduce disparity between geographical locations and social groups.

"We have 1,000 days to close the gaps that remain for the MDGs in Nepal — only 1,000 days to accelerate action," said UN resident coordinator Terence D Jones.

"The UN family will continue its cooperation with the government and other partners to step-up collective efforts and re-energise the global movement to free people from extreme poverty and to address other critical human development issues," he added.