Officials from 10 countries meet in Cambodia to discuss Millennium Development Goals

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Oct 25, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Approximately 50 government officials and civil society representatives gathered here on Tuesday to discuss ways to accelerate the attainment of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Speaking during the opening session of the three-day Advocacy Training Workshop for Least Developed Countries, Cambodia's Minister of Planning Chhay Than said that among the least developed countries, Cambodia is a leading one in its active work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

"The workshop is to find ways to accelerate the governments' efforts to achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and to identify the needs of the poor and vulnerable people in order to fight poverty effectively," he said.

He said that in the last decade, Cambodia has seen a success in fighting against poverty by reducing the poverty rate of at least 1 percent a year. By the end of 2010, the poverty rate has declined to 25.8 percent.

He added that the GDP per capita is 830 U.S. dollars in 2010, up 8.5 percent compared to that in 2009.

The UN's Millennium Development Goals focus on extreme poverty and hunger eradication, universal primary education, gender equality and women empowerment, child mortality reduction, maternal health improvement, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases combat, environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.

The 10 countries attended the workshop are Cambodia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.

The workshop was organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific.