Poverty on such a scale is unacceptable, not least because globalization has opened up vast avenues of wealth creation.
Globalization can be a strong force in the fight against poverty.
But globalization must mean more than creating bigger markets, and experience confirms that growth alone cannot reduce poverty and income inequality. Economic policy must be combined with effective social policies aimed at education for all, health for all and gender equality. This is essential if globalization is to work for all the world's peoples, and if we are to meet the goal of halving, by the year 2015, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. This is an ambitious goal, but it is neither utopian nor impossible. We have the knowledge and the means with which to achieve it.