Tuesday marks United Nations Day all over the world. In the Kingdom, and through its 12 agencies here, the UN has been working with the people of Jordan and has supported the Jordanian Government’s requests for support to identified challenges and needs.

 The UN continues to actively support the development process in Jordan, in particular, in such areas as poverty reduction, food security, social sector development, environment, education, health, protection and promoting good governance.  Its work focuses on the economic and social advancement of people, and respect for human rights.

There is hardly any sphere of life where the UN system has not cooperated with the Jordanian Government and civil society organization:  The UN still works with a wide range of Jordanian partners in government, civil society, business, academia and the media in different parts of the Kingdom. Just now the UN team in Jordan is working with the government to identify the priority areas of collaboration with the Kingdom over the next five year period.

At the Millennium Summit held in New York in September 2000, Jordan was one of the 189 countries of the world committed itself to halve income poverty and hunger by the year 2015 through guaranteeing primary education for all girls and boys; reducing by two third a child’s risk of dying before age five; reducing by three quarters a woman’s risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes; stopping and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; protecting the ecosystem and biodiversity; and ensuring that developed countries grant more aid, fairer trade and steeper debt relief.

With this commitment, the next major milestone will be 2015.  The time the UN together with the government of Jordan will confront themselves with the final assessment of the MDGs.  It will be the moment everybody is working for. 

To bring closer the day when poverty is no longer a fact of life for Jordan, the UN will continue to provide the support that will help the country not only achieve, but also exceed its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The UN agencies in Jordan are FAO, UN HABITAT, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNRWA, UNU-ILI, WFP and WHO. In addition, UNICEF, WHO, UNIFEM and UNFPA have offices in Amman with responsibilities for the Middle East and North Africa region.