A global new deal is necessary if the world is to halve poverty, UNCTAD tells civil society and member States

Source: UNCTAD

Richard Kozul-Wright of UNCTAD's Unit on Economic Cooperation and Integration among Developing Countries has said that new development paths are an essential part of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and new levers of economic growth are necessary as many of the levers of the past decade will be absent in this one. 

The UNCTAD director, speaking to representatives of civil society and member States at an event on the MDG Summit Outcome, said that economic growth itself was not enough and called for action by governments and cooperation across different sectors in order to make economic growth more inclusive. The failure to think about new policies and mechanisms to deal with development challenges at the recent United Nations MDG Summit in New York was “unforgivable” he said. 

Mr. Kozul-Wright outlined UNCTAD's agenda to meeting the MDGs in the next five years as building productive employment and capacity, tackling inequality (including through downsizing and reform of the financial sector), promoting investment-led strategies, including  a bigger role for public investment, finding more integrated policy approaches, and creating the policy space for more development-minded states, including through South-South cooperation – and all in the context of a better marriage of the climate change and the development agendas. 

The event, hosted by the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS), was aimed at taking stock of the outcome of the recent United Nations MDG Summit and examined the next steps and challenges for the achievement of the MDGs.