Social Watch demands ambitious goals for Uruguay

Montevideo, 30 April 2004 - Today the commitment made by the Uruguayan Government to work together with civil society to define social development goals based on the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals was reaffirmed by Ariel Davrieux, Head of the Planning and Budget Ministry, during the ceremony at which UN representatives formally presented the Uruguayan Government and civil society with the results of the consultation process around these goals that took place between October 2003 and March 2004.

Roberto Bissio, Director, ITeM

Ariel Davrieux, Director, Planning and Budget Ministry

Diego Zorrilla de San Martín, Director of International Co-operation, Foreign Ministry

Representing the Social Watch international network, Roberto Bissio, Director of the Third World Institute (ITeM), demanded that ambitious goals be set, which should be agreed upon by all the actors involved. María Elena Martínez, for the National Association of NGOs (ANONG), insisted that multi-sector talks be rapidly initiated, the purpose of which would be to define specific national goals on the basis of the results of the consultation exercise. Davrieux said that before the end of the year the Government would report on progress towards these goals, but not on the "strategies for action", which would have to be defined by the new Government that will take office on 1 March 2005.

For more information and the complete report (in Spanish):

http://www.undp.org.uy/showNews.asp?NewsId=47