With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend the MDG summit in New York on 20-22 September to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.

‘The summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the Goals,’ he said, referring to the targets adopted at the UN Millennium Summit of 2000, aimed at slashing poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths and other ills by a 2015 deadline.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa too is due to attend this summit.

Sri Lanka has already achieved many of the MDG goals at national level and is well on track in achieving other goals through the Mahinda Chintana policy, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a message earlier this year. The government gives high priority in resolving issues faced at provincial and district level by implementing programmes, he said.

‘Sri Lanka stands out in its achievements in education. The present trend with regard to University Primary Education, demonstrates that the goals have been met before the target of 2015. The Gender Parity at primary and secondary levels in education has reached 100% while at secondary level expected targets have exceeded’, the President further stated in his message.

In the last 5 years Sri Lanka’s per capita income has risen to USD 2000 from USD 1000. The per capita income is expected to increase to USD 4000 in the next five years.