Millennium Development Goal summit begins today

The big Millennium Development Goal summit begins today at the United Nations. Over 140 world leaders will attend the summit. The meetings will feature speeches from U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

From this Associated Press article that we found at Google News, we read about UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's take on the proceedings.

In advance of this week's summit, diplomats from the 192 U.N. member states agreed on the document to be adopted by the leaders which spells out specific actions to accelerate implementation of each of the eight Millennium Development Goals, known as the MDGs, in the next five years.

"We are convinced that the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved, including in the poorest countries, with renewed commitment, effective implementation, and intensified collective action by all member states and other relevant stakeholders at both domestic and international levels," it says.

Many recent reports show that the world's poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, have made little progress in eradicating poverty. And in Africa, Asia and Latin America there also has been a lack of progress in reducing mother and child deaths, providing clean water and sanitation, and promoting women's equality.

"Many countries are falling short, especially in Africa," Ban warned, and "inequities are growing within and among countries," a problem compounded by the global economic crisis.

"I know there are skepticisms, but my role as secretary-general is to fight against this skepticism and make this action plan deliver," Ban said in an interview with The Associated Press. "There will be some hurdles. Nobody said it is an easy plan, but I think that it can be done."

Amnesty International, which says world leaders have failed more than a billion of the world's poorest people, plans to unveil a Maternal Death Clock in Times Square in the heart of New York City on Monday to count maternal deaths around the globe while world leaders are meeting.

Maternal mortality remains high and the clock will begin at 5,317,280, the number of women Amnesty says have died since the MDGs were adopted in September 2000. It predicted about 3,700 more women will die during the summit, which ends Wednesday.