UN urges aid to poor countries

New York, 10 Sept-(ANA)-The United Nations Development Programme has called on donors to “continue, and ideally boost, their current commitments” to help the agency pull the world’s developing countries out of poverty. 
 
In a statement, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark said “I am concerned that we may not meet our income targets for 2009 and 2010, and that we will face a continuing imbalance between contributions to regular and other resources.”

Clark called on the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries to fulfil their oft-stated pledge to commit 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to official development assistance (ODA). 
 
 
Many developing countries, facing reduced domestic revenue this year, need 
support to maintain budgets for basic services like health and education, vital 
ingredients in meeting the MDGs,  Clark said. 
 
“If children are pulled out of school because of the effects of the crisis on 
their families and their countries’ budgets, they may never get a second chance 
in education.

“If children have poor nutrition because of the crisis, the 
long-term effects on their cognitive skills and productive potential are 
serious,” she added. (ANA)

FA/ANA/10 September 2009---