The statutory draft report of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for  2007 was on Monday validated at a one-day meeting convened at Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi.

The validation of the draft report came ahead of the upcoming UN MDGs Session of Heads of State and Governments, which the Gambia is expected to attend.

The National Planning Commission, in collaboration with the Office of the President, UNDPand the Gambia Burea of Statistic (GBos), prepared the 2007 country report on the status of the MDGs implementation in The Gambia.

The report covered various sectors relevant to the MDGs, including education, health, environment, amongst others. It also identified some major challenges regarding the availability of resources, data gaps, policy orientation and priority for development cooperation and appropriate recommendations therein.

In his presentation on the sub-theme Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, Alieu Saho from the Gambia Revenue Authority, described poverty as a global phenomenon that is affecting both the rural and urban areas.

On challenges, Saho told the gathering that the economy is faced with certain difficulties in recent times, but was quick to note that The Gambia government is committed to poverty alleviation which it has manifested in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper ll and other sectoral strategic documents.

For Juldeh Ceesay, the principal economist at the National Planning Commission, maternal and reproductive health issues are high on the list of priorities of the government. She said the country has experienced a lot of challenges in its efforts to realise the MDG targets on maternal mortality and underscored some gains registered by the government.

During the deliberartions, which also saw several other presentations, the participants were exposed to the content of the report, which they carefully studied and suggested necessary adjustments and recommendations.