International experts have called on Vietnam to double its efforts in implementing the millennium development goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) not only until the deadline of 2015 but also the years afterwards. The call was made at a conference on the national consultations for the post-2015 development agenda jointly held by the UN and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) in Hanoi on March 20. The country has obtained recent remarkable achievements, such as a reduction in the number of poor rural and urban people, universalization of primary education in 2002, improvement in gender equality and successful implementation HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns, said MPI Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Hieu. Other indicators such as reducing the child mortality rate and improving maternal health will be completed by 2015, he added. Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, said that 2015 is the last year for the implementation and accomplishment of MDGs. After more than 10 years and considerable achievements, Vietnam is considered one of leading countries in implementing the goals with a decrease of 50 percentage points in extreme poverty rate. Vietnam is one of the countries selected to take part in the UN’s national consultancy. Based on the consultancy results, the UN will develop a post-2015 development agenda for all countries, Mehta added. During the conference, consulting groups expressed their desire for social fairness, better jobs, access to affordable healthcare services and an improved approach to education, urban poverty reduction and gender imbalance and environment protection. Since the eight MDGs were adopted by world leaders in 2000, they have helped set global and national development priorities. However, the expiry of the current MDGs in 2015 creates a task for the UN to develop the post-2015 development agenda. The UN implemented national consultations from the end of 2012 to early 2013 in over 50 countries. (Kinh Te Viet Nam & The Gioi –Vietnam & World Economy Mar 21 p2, Thoi Bao Kinh Te – Economic Times Mar 21 p4)
