Kuwait calls for international comprehensive development plan

His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on Wednesday urged the international community to build on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and work out an ambitious plan for universal, comprehensive sustainable development. Addressing the 68th UN General Assembly session on behalf of f HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister said the new changes in the world including the instability and human rights violations in many parts of the world "compel us, as international community, to consider the urgency of a new development plan." "Such plan should capitalize on, and integrate with, the efforts geared to realize the (eight) MDGs in a way that could cope with the post-2015 era," he said. "It has to envisage bringing about a quantum leap in the effort to build a universal partnership for sustainable development encompassing the scientific principles of the UN Summit Declaration and the Rio Earth Summit 2012," HH Sheikh Jaber pointed out. It has to aim at realizing the aspirations of nations worldwide, particularly the least developing nations and those recovering from conflicts, for better life and better future, he went on. HH Sheikh Jaber noted that the adoption of the MDGs represented a turning point in the ability of the UN to lobby the political will of the international community to reduce poverty and realize sustainable economic development in an apparent and viable way. "Since its independence in 1961, the State of Kuwait attached great importance to offering aid to the developing and least-developing countries through various initiatives and mechanisms," he said. Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) is one of the main manifestations of the basic policy of Kuwait for contributing to the international development and relief efforts, he noted. The Fund's activities in translating Kuwait's words and pledges into action expanded from the regional Arab scale to include other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Kuwait offered USD 500 million for Yemen as an initial contribution to the country's plan (2012-2014) for peaceful transition envisaged in the GCC initiative, he added. The MDGs which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 - form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries and all the world's leading development institutions; they have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world's poorest. The State of Kuwait was able realize the MDGs relating to ending poverty and hungry, primary education, gender equality at all stages of education, reducing the infant and child mortality rate, improving mother and child health, and curbing the prevalence rates of such communicable diseases as HIV/AIDS and malaria