The United Nations Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all
192 members and a number of international organizations have agreed to
achieve by the year 2015 to end poverty. They include reducing extreme
poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics,
such as HIV/AIDS, and creating a global partnership for development.
The main goal that concerns the WTO is MDG
8, building a global partnership for development. However, WTO
activities are also relevant to other goals, such as MDG 1, whose aim
is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. In fact, the MDGs cannot
be seen in isolation: they are all interconnected.
International trade can lead to economic
growth and development, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) is very
much at the forefront of efforts to make this happen for developing
countries. This, in fact, is what the WTO and the Doha Round of trade
negotiations are all about. The economic and developmental benefits
brought about by the multilateral trading system can go a long way
towards helping countries achieve the goals set out in the UN
Millennium Declaration to reduce extreme poverty by the year 2015.
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