UNITED NATIONS, Sept 4: A new UN report finds significant progress in providing debt relief to the world’s poorest countries.

“Donors will need to increase their development assistance by $18 billion a year between now and 2010 if they are to meet their previously agreed pledges.”

The report, Delivering on the Global Partnership for Achieving the

Millennium Development Goals, was prepared by the MDG Gap Task Force, created by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to track international commitments on aid, trade and debt, and to follow progress on access to essential medicines and technology.

“The year 2008 should mark a turning point in progress towards the Millennium Development Goals,” said Mr Ban at a press conference on Thursday.

“This report is a wake-up call. It provides a valuable snapshot of where the global community is on track in fulfilling its commitments, and where we need to strengthen our efforts for the second half of the MDG timetable. This document will be an invaluable tool when world leaders gather for a high-level event in New York on 25th September to identify urgent ways to take action on the Goals.”

Though donor countries have stepped up Official Development Assistance (ODA) since 2000, aid flows have actually declined in recent years – by 4.7 per cent in 2006 and a further 8.4 per cent in 2007.

At the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles, donor countries promised to increase the total flow of ODA by $50 billion per year by 2010, but delivery is already falling short. Increasing existing flows by $18 billion per year between 2008 and 2010 would meet the agreed target and bring total aid to an estimated share of 0.35 per cent of gross national income of the OECD countries – still only halfway to the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent.