Mr. President: Mr. Secretary General
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your assumption of the presidency of this year's General Assembly. I must also commend your predecessor, Ambassador John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda, and his team, for so effectively setting the stage for what will now follow under your distinguished tenure, as it relates to the post-2015 development agenda and other critical issues that warrant the focused
attention of the international community.
This UN General Assembly is taking place on the eve of the target year set by world leaders in 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It is therefore timely to assess the progress made and also to understand why we could not achieve all the goals in full. This is essential in moving forward with the Post 2015 agenda that we are about to finalise.
I wish to recall that in the year 2000 when the eight goals were announced, they inspired great hope and enthusiasm throughout the world. This was particularly so in developing countries and among the world's poor.
It is true that the world has made tangible progress in its efforts to achieve the MDGs. Global poverty has fallen and continues to fall; many more of the world's children are attending primary schools; health services have improved for a large
number of people resulting in a significant decline in child mortality; and the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria has been halted and even reversed in some regions.
In Guyana, despite the negative impacts of the international financial situation, we have managed to keep our economy on a steady growth path over the last eight years. Not only have we succeeded in growing our economy but also in ensuring that growth has resulted in an improved quality of life for our people.
Indeed, we are one of only seventeen countries in recognized as not only meeting the goal of reducing improving the nutrition of our people.
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