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In his Millennium Report, the Secretary-General identifies pressing challenges faced by the world's peoples and proposes a number of priorities for Member States to consider at the Millennium Summit. He also recommends several immediate steps that can be taken at the Summit itself. Outlined below are the new initiatives he is proposing, followed by targets and recommendations he has outlined for consideration by Heads of State.

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The Secretary-General has announced four new initiatives in the report:

A volunteer crops, called the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS"). to train groups in developing countries in the uses and opportunities of the Internet and Information technology.

A Health InterNetwork, to establish 10.000 on-line sites in hospitals and clinics in developing countries to provide access to up-to-date medical information. This initiative is supported by the WebMD Foundation. WHO. the United Nations Foundation and other partners.

A disaster response initiative, "First on the Ground", which will provide mobile and satellite telephones as well as microwave links for humanitarian relief workers in areas affected by natural disasters and emergencies. This project will be led by the communications company L M Ericcson. with United Nations partners and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

A global policy network to explore viable new approaches to the problem of youth employment. This high-level group, to be convened jointly with the heads of the World Bank and the ILO. and to include private sector and civil society leaders, will make recommendations to Governments within a year.

Freedom from Want':

The Development Agenda

Heads of State or Government are urged to take action in the following areas:

Poverty: To have, by 2015, the proportion of the world's people (currently 22 per cent) whose income is less than one dollar a day-

Water to halve, by 2015. the proportion of people who do not nave access to safe drinking water (currently 20 per cent).

Education: To narrow the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005; and to ensure that, by 2015. all children complete a full course of primary education

HIV AIDS: To halt, and begin to reverse, the spread of HIV//MDS by 2015 by:

• adopting as an explicit goal the reduction of HIV infection rates in persons 15 to 24 years of age — by 25 per cent within the most affected countries before the year .2005, and by 25 per cent .globally before 2010.

• setting explicit prevention targets: by 2005 at least 90 percent, and by 2010 at least 95 percent, of young men and women must have access to the HIV-prevent Ive information and services.

• urging every seriously affected country to have a national plan of action in place within one year of the Summit.

Clearing the Slums: to endorse and act upon the "Cities Without Slums" plan launched by the World Bank and United Nations to improve the Ilves of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020

Youth Employment: to develop strategies to reduce job-

lessness among youth.

Building Digital Bridges: to review their policies In order to remove regulatory and pricing impediment to Internet access, to make sure people are not denied the opportunities offered by the digital revolution.

Private Sector: to develop strong partnerships with the private sector, at both national and international levels, to combat poverty in all its aspects.

Developed countries in particular are urged:

Trade Access: to grant free access to their markets for goods produced in poor countries — and. as a first step, to be prepared to adopt a policy of duty-free and quota-free access for essentially all exports from the least-developed countries at the UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in March 2001.

Debt Relief: to implement the expansion of the debt relief programme for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries agreed last year without further delay, and to be prepared to cancel all official debts of the heavily indebted poor countries, in return for those countries making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction.

ODA: to grant more generous development assistance, particularly to those countries that are genuinely applying their resources to poverty reduction.

HIV /AIDS: To work with the pharmaceutical industry and other partners to develop an effective and affordable vaccine against HIV; and to make HIV-related drugs more widely accessible in developing countries.

Africa: to make special provision for the needs of Africa, and to fully support Africans in their struggle to overcome the continent's problems. Specifically. experts and foundations are urged to tackle the problem of low agricultural productivity tn Africa.

Freedom from Fear': The Security Agenda

Heads of State or Government are urged:

International Law: T o strengthen respect for international law. and in particular the agreed provisions of treaties on the control of armaments and of International humanitarian and human rights law. Special facilities will be pro-vided at the Millennium Summit for Heads of State or Government to add their signatures to any treaty or convention of which the Secretary-General is the depository’.

Peace Operations: T o strengthen the capacity of the United Nations to conduct peace operations. The Secretary-General has established a high-level panel to review all aspects of peace operations and suggest ways forward; the panel's report is expected to be completed in time for consideration by the Millennium Assembly.

Targeting Sanctions: To Agree on measures to make economic sanctions adopted by the Security Council impact less harshly on Innocent populations. and more effective in bringing pressure to bear on target regimes.

Small Arms: To curb the Illegal traffic In small arms, notably by:

• Creating greater transparency-tat arms transfers

• Supporting regional disarmament measures, such as the Moratorium on the importing, exporting and manufacturing of light weapons in West Africa.

• Extending to other areas — especially post-conflict situations — the "weapons for goods" programmes that nave worked well In Mozambique. Panama. El Salvador and Albania.

Nuclear Weapons: To examine the possibility of convening a major international conference to identify ways of eliminating nuclear dangers.

A Sustainable Future: The Environmental Agenda

Heads of State or Government are urged to adopt a new ethic of conservation and stewardship: and. as first steps:

Climate Change: To adopt and ratify the Kyoto Protocol, so that it can enter into force by 2002. and to ensure that Its goals are met. as a step towards reducing emission of greenhouse gases.

Green Accounting: To consider incorporating the United Nations system of "green accounting' into their own national accounts, in order to integrate environmental issues Into mainstream economic policy.

Ecosystem Assessment: To provide financial support for. and become actively engaged in. the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. a major international collaborative effort to map the health of the planet.

Earth 8ummit+10: To prepare the ground for the adoption of concrete and meaningful actions by the world s leaders at the ten-year follow-up to the Earth Summit in 2002.

Renewing the United Nations

To make the United Nations a more effective instrument In the hands of the world’s peoples. Heads of State or Government are urged:

• To reform the Security Council, in a way that both enables It to carry out Its responsibilities more effectively and gives It greater legitimacy in the eyes of all the world's peoples.

• To ensure that the Organization is given the necessary resources to carry out its mandates.

• To ensure that the Secretariat makes best use of those resources in the interests of all Member States, by allowing it to adopt the best management practices and technologies available, and to concentrate on those tasks that reflect the current priorities of Member States.

• To give full opportunities to non-governmental organizations and other non-state actors to make their indispensable contribution to the Organization's work.

— UNIC. Dhaka