President Barroso Welcomes Davos Statement on Millennium Development Goals

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso today welcomed the Davos statement on the drive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Noting that the European Union has provided global leadership by substantially strengthening its development cooperation effort, he said that the international community must use 2008 to review progress achieved, and decide where best to apply pressure to keep results on track.

"We all remember the adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2000 – and I was proud to be part of the Gleneagles G8 deal in 2005 to increase massively financial assistance to developing countries," said President Barroso. "Europe has consistently delivered on its aid promises, and we remain on track to reach the agreed aid targets of 0.56% of our Gross National Income by 2010, and 0.7% by 2015. But I will personally continue to discuss with all Member States the importance of scaling up aid budgets to ensure we meet our objectives. This is an objective that we in Europe must take extremely seriously."

President Barroso said he was pleased that Davos was focusing on this issue and noted that "it is very clear to me that the Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved without an active involvement of the world business community and private foundations."

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