PtG Article 20.09.2010

UN roundtable to discuss sport as a tool to reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals

A roundtable titled ‘The Value of Sport as a Development Tool’ focusing on the potential of sport to assist in achieving the Millennium Development Goals will today take place at the UN’s Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York.

The roundtable will bring together Heads of States, Governments, sports celebrities, civil society leaders and sport federations and focus on approaches to harness short, medium and long-term development opportunities through sport, with a view to support the achievement of the MDGs.Sport alone will not lead to the achievements of the MDGs, but it has been recognized as a tool for education, development and peace which can promote cooperation, solidarity, tolerance, understanding, social inclusion and health at the local, national and international levels in the efforts to address each of the MDGs, writes UNOSDP.The Millennium Development Goals were established at a UN Summit in September 2000. The eight Goals are to:  eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development by 2015.SOURCE: UNOSDP