Short: "outrageousely ambitious" objectives

"Millennium Should Mark New Attack on Poverty"

On the same day as the Government unveiled plans to celebrate the millennium, she warned the world would have to meet tough targets on beating poverty only a few years into the new millennium.

She said Britain was already committed to working towards the international aims of halving the proportion of people in extreme poverty. The Government also wanted to see universal primary education in all countries, a two-thirds cut in mortality rates for children under five by 2015 and educational equality for girls by 2005.

She admitted the objectives may seem "outrageously ambitious", but insisted not only was the elimination of poverty achievable but also "affordable". She added, "I believe abject poverty could be eliminated from our world within our lifetime, or at least within the lifetime of our children. Clearly there can be no more noble a task that the world could commit itself to as we approach a new millennium."

Her words echoed Prime Minister Tony Blair's message to the UN General Assembly in New York earlier this week. She said a "new spirit of optimism" was needed to take her approach forward but added, "To have a real impact we must get greater coherence between our aid, trade, investment and agricultural policies. This coherence has to start at a national level if we are to encourage it in the European Union and in other international fora.