A 10 minute short video, produced by TVE Asia Pacific on the Asia Pacific region’s pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), was showcased at Asia Media Summit 2006.

The Summit, organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 29 to 31 May 2006. It was attended by some 350 decision-makers, media professionals, scholars from 70 countries in the Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, Middle East and North America.

Titled A Future Within Reach, the MDG film was produced in late 2005 as a curtain raiser for a major UN conference to review the MDG progress in the world’s largest region, home to two thirds of humanity and most of its poor.

The film captured the highlights of the MDG + 5 ‘report card’ for Asia Pacific that UNESCAP, UNDP and Asian Development Bank released in September 2005 -- days ahead of the MDG + 5 Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The regional report, titled A Future Within Reach: Reshaping institutions in a region of disparities to meet the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific, collated the latest data for each country or territory in the Asia Pacific region on the eight MDGs to assesses whether the goal will be met by 2015.

TVE Asia Pacific – a regional leader in using television, video and new media to communicate development issues -- was commissioned by the United Nations to produce the official video to accompany the report.

AMS 2006 provided an opportunity to engage the region’s broadcast managers and decision-makers on the important MDG message. United Nations ESCAP, the UN Secretariat’s Asia Pacific regional arm, collaborated with TVE Asia Pacific in organizing a plenary session on MDGs.

The session featured United Nations Under-Secretary-General and UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su as a panel speaker.

In his speech, Mr Kim made a specific reference to the MDG film (see excerpt in box).

See our separate news story on MDGs at AMS 2006.

Both organizations were also co-sponsors of the Summit, along with UNESCO, UNDP-APDIP, ITU, Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), China Central Television (CCTV) and others.

The film was repeatedly screened at the UNESCAP exhibit on MDGs in the Asia Pacific at the venue of the Summit.

Every delegate received a free DVD copy of film, now available in seven languages: Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Chinese, English, Hindi, Urdu and Russian.

TVE Asia Pacific is cooperating with UNESCAP in promoting sustained media coverage and advocacy of MDGs in the Asia Pacific.

There are eight MDGs: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.