Arab World Risks Missing its Development Goals

Illiteracy, gender inequality, and unemployment plague Arab countries, despite the region's concentration of oil wealth. Arab leaders addressed these issues at a recent development conference. They proposed various plans and strategies to help Arab countries meet the Millennium Development Goal, which was signed by 189 countries in 2000 as part of the UN's Millennium Declaration. The objective of the MDG is to bind rich and poor countries in the quest to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, promote education and equality, and improve health care for mothers and victims of HIV/AIDS. Many of the countries that signed the declaration have since made substantial progress on the social, economic, and political points of the plan. Thus far, however, Arab countries have lagged behind. – YaleGlobal