2010 is United Nations year of Millennium Development Goals

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided Tuesday to call 2010 the year of Millennium Development Goals, which will review progress to achieve a set of eight programs by 2015. The goals were set by the UN General Assembly in 2000, including halving extreme poverty, universal education for children, ending child and maternal mortality and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The assembly is planning meetings in 2010 to review progress made so far by governments and whether the goals can be reached in 2015.

"Coming amid mixed progress towards the goals and new crises that threaten the global effort to halve extreme poverty, the summit (in 2010) will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the goals by the agreed deadline of 2015," Ban said.

Ban called on government leaders to attend the Millennium Development Goals Summit and "engage fully in ensuring a successful, practical, action-oriented outcome that delivers results for the billions of people struggling to meet their basic needs and to live in dignity and peace."