UN General Assembly
2006

has been an effective instrument in those countries where the political will has existed to cooperate fully with the United Nations programmes and proposals for alleviating the plight of the poor. At the same time, the efficiency of United Nations operations has also been called into question, and not without reason. More innovative approaches need to be deployed for alleviating poverty and reaching set development objectives. Among those, we should look more to the effective use of information, communication and modern technologies. I well remember the excitement at the Millennium Summit in 2000, when we adopted the Millennium Declaration. Progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals, alas, is still unacceptably slow. The statistics on infant mortality and maternal health, among others, remain particularly distressing. Millions of our fellow human beings have no access to clean drinking water, let alone more sophisticated comforts. We cannot remain indifferent when so much needs to be done. In many parts of the world, the misery brought on by poverty is compounded by such debilitating and mortal diseases as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and