JOHANNESBURG, 18 September 2009 (IRIN) - Billions of dollars pledged by governments to help eradicate poverty and other social ills in the developing world have not been received, according to a United Nations report launched on 16 September.

The report, Strengthening the Global Partnership for Development in a Time of Crisis, by the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Gap Task Force, highlighted an annual gap of US$35 billion in the 2005 pledge made by the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries at a summit in Gleneagles, United Kingdom.

This amount includes a $20 billion annual shortfall in its commitments to Africa, even though 2008 saw the highest levels of development assistance to the continent.

In a preface to the report UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recognized that since the adoption of the MDGs in 2000 there had been "great progress" in reducing poverty and hunger, and promoting access to education and health services.

"But the economic crisis threatens to reverse these hard-won gains, and time is running short," he said. "Without strong and concerted international responses the crisis could become a development emergency."

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