A three-day international conference on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), set by a UN meeting of heads of state in 2000, opened in Beijing Thursday morning.  

Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan addressed the meeting and Rubens Ricupero, special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), read a letter from Annan.

Kim Hak-su, UN under-secretary general, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), and several other senior officials of the UN organs attended the conference and are expected to deliver keynote speeches.

The main topics of the meeting are poverty, development and equality, health, AIDS, environmental sustainability, and regional and global cooperation.

The conference is jointly held by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and offices of UN organizations in China.

Participants will include representatives from the Chinese and foreign governments, international organizations, academic organizations and business communities from home and overseas.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2004)