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Spoke at the university in Dili

His Royal Highness The Crown Prince concluded his field visit to Timor-Leste today. Before his departure, the Crown Prince spoke to 200 students who had come to hear him lecture about UNDP and the UN Millennium Development Goals. 

07.02.2015

Crown Prince Haakon has spent the past three days travelling in Timor-Leste on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Part of the purpose of the trip has been to see some of the UNDP-supported projects. The Crown Prince has visited a project that brings safe drinking water to several villages and a recycling project run by young people, among others. He makes it a point to meet and speak with young people on these visits. 

Spoke at the university 

Crown Prince Haakon has served as Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP since 2003, with a particular focus on the UN Millennium Development Goals. This morning, the Crown Prince spoke about these goals to more than 200 students at the Dili Institute of Technology.

Crown Prince Haakon spoke about how much Timor-Leste had accomplished towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and how this would not have been possible without young people as a key driving force. He presented each of the eight goals and their status in Timor-Leste. Although the country will not achieve all of the goals, the Crown Prince impressed upon the audience the importance of focusing on the strides that have been made. At the same time, he encouraged the students to think about what they could do to advance the further development of Timor-Leste. 

The Crown Prince illustrated his lecture with photos, describing in detail the projects he had visited over the previous days. 

 

 

Facts

About the UN Millennium Development Goals

In 2000 all the countries in the world agreed to establish common goals to eradicate poverty, and eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were formulated.

The general goal – MDG 1 – was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The first of three targets under the goal was to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than USD 1 a day.

The eight MDG were to:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality and empower women
  4. Reduce child mortality
  5. Improve maternal health
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability
  8. Develop a global partnership for development

At the end of 2015, significant progress had been made in all eight areas, and the countries of the world decided on 17 new goals - the Sustainable Development Goals.

 

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