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Article Excerpt
As the world marks the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 and the target date for their achievement in 2015, an assessment of the Arab region's progress on these is both timely and essential. As a whole, the region has made significant progress in some areas, including education and disease control, yet several factors have constrained the achievement of the MDGs.
The relatively poor economic performance in the 1990s and early 2000s, the inadequate financing of social policies and the increased political tensions and conflicts have all hindered progress. Achieving the MDGs in the Arab world, at the regional, subregional and national levels, requires concerted efforts and full commitment by Governments and civil society organizations. Efforts are needed to create well-functioning and transparent institutions and to establish both youth-and gender-friendly policy frameworks, which ensure that young men and women are not only beneficiaries but also active agents of development.
The Arab region has been characterized by sharp disparities between the different subregions,(*) particularly between the highincome States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Arab least developed countries (LDCs). These disparities are not only great in terms of the level of development, but also in terms of progress made towards the achievement of the MDGs. Indeed, while the GCC countries, as well as several States in the Maghreb and Mashreq subregions, are on-track to achieve most of the MDG targets, the Arab LDCs and conflict-ridden Iraq and palestine face many critical challenges. For these countries to meet the MDG targets by 2015, national and international development efforts must be stepped up.
Based on data for 12 Arab countries, representing 74 per...
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