President Jacob Zuma was in Pretoria today, 10 September 2010, briefed by representatives of civil society on the resolutions taken at the Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Summit was held in Cape Town on 30 August - 1 September 2010.
The organisations represented included the National Association of People living With Aids (NAPWA), South African NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), Ilitha Labantu and the South African Council of Churches (SACC).
The summit resolutions will be presented at the United Nations General Assembly's deliberations in New York before the end of this month.
These recommendations focus on the eradication of poverty and hunger, poverty and vulnerability according to gender, primary education, promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment as well as environmental sustainability and health.
President Zuma appreciated the briefing and encouraged the non-governmental organisations sector not only to engage government on what it is doing right or wrong, but also to work together with government. "Equally important should be an emphasis on the need to form a strong partnership between government and civil society in order to ensure that South Africa succeeds in meeting the MDGs,” President Zuma said.
President Zuma added, "South Africa as a country has made substantial progress on the MDGs and that's thanks to the collaboration between government and the non-governmental sector. We will take to the United Nations a report that shows this collective effort. We have a lot of work to do still to meet all the eight MDGs, but are optimistic that we will succeed given the spirit of cooperation. We cannot achieve these goals working alone, that is why we met today and have agreed to meet again regularly in future. As South Africa tables its report to the UN later this month, we are optimistic that the report will show substantial progress indeed.”
Speaking for the non-governmental organisations, Ms Mandisa Monakali said "the meeting was a great success and we were particularly pleased that the President took time to listen to our concerns and we look forward to our next meeting with the President when we come back from the US. There is a lot that we can achieve if we work together.”
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Source: The Presidency
