16 September 2009: During the launch of the 2009 MDG Gap Task Force Report on Strengthening the Global Partnership for Development in a Time of Crisis, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro highlighted that it is crucial to deliver on global poverty-fighting commitments in a word facing economic recession, food shortage and the continuing impact of climate change, factors that impede the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The report emphasizes that the implementation of the commitments can advance economic and environmental sustainable growth that has the potential to mitigate climate change, while also addressing the deficits of political, economic and public health areas linked to extreme poverty.
The UN Secretary-General’s MDG Gap Task Force, led by the UN Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), brings together more than 20 UN agencies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Task Force, created by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2007, aims to monitor global commitments on aid, trade and debt and access to technology and basic medicines. [ MDG Gap Task Force][UN News Centre]