UN boss appeals for poverty reduction

SECRETARY General Ban Ki-moon opened a summit yesterday with a plea to the assembled presidents, prime ministers and kings to use their power to meet UN goals to help the world’s poorest by 2015.

Ten years after world leaders set the most ambitious goals ever to tackle global poverty, they are gathered again to spur action to meet the deadline, which the UN says will be difficult, if not impossible, in some cases.

General Assembly President Joseph Deiss opened the summit saying: “We must achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We want to achieve them. And we can achieve them.”