The donor states must fulfil their commitments towards global poverty elimination in order to help the poor countries attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), speakers told a function in Dhaka yesterday.

They also said the rich countries should write off the debts of the poor nations to help them overcome the millennium challenges.

They were speaking at the launch of a campaign titled "Progress, Review & Evaluation of MDGs: Nothing for Complacency", according to a press release.

Campaign for Good Governance, or SUPRO, a nongovernment organisation, launched the campaign on the eve of Mid-Term Review of Millennium Development Goals.

The donor countries promised to contribute 0.7 percent of their national incomes towards attaining the MDGs, but they are now putting in only 0.33 percent, the speakers said.

Unless poor countries like Bangladesh get more foreign aids to fight poverty, attaining the MDGs would be even harder, they added.

According to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank, foreign aid in the country is decreasing every year. In 1999, Bangladesh received 1179 million dollars in foreign aid, which went down to 752.36 million dollars in 2006, the speakers told the conference.

In order to achieve the MDGs, Bangladesh should get at least 7.5 billion dollars in foreign aid a year, but the country is getting only 1.4 billion, they observed.

SUPRO Chairperson Abdul

Awal presided over the conference, while General Secretary Rezaul Karim Chowdhury and Chief Executive Officer Prodip Kumar Roy spoke.

Coordinator-Policy Research Aminul Haque in the keynote speech said although Bangladesh is doing remarkably good in achieving the MDGs, it still has to face a numberof challenges.

More than 40 percent of the country's population live on less than a dollar a day, while 36 percent are facing extreme poverty, he added.

The country spends 20 percent of its national budget just to pay off interests of the debts, he added urging the donors to consider writing off the debts of countries like Bangladesh to help achieve the MDGs.