Secretary-General cuts short holiday

With the US under the leadership of John Bolton the scene is set for a major reversal of months of negotiations on an outcome document for the Summit in mid-September. One key area in danger of being eliminated from the draft is the MDGs which the US has never fully supported since Day 1.

On one of the most contentious issues, development, the U.S. proposal all but eliminates any reference to Secretary-General Annan's anti-poverty strategy, known as the Millennium Development Goals. The goals featured prominently in earlier drafts of a summit outcome document, and spokesman Okabe conceded Tuesday that deleting them would be a blow to Mr. Annan. "The secretary-general and the United Nations stand fully behind the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are internationally accepted and have broad support of member states and civil society. Any effort to eliminate MDGs from the summit outcome would be setback to the global fight
against poverty and for the billions living in poverty," she said.