UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday opened a three-day high-level meeting with a plea to nearly 140 heads of state and government to step up efforts in order to translate the Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs), the 10-year-old ambitious UN anti-poverty program, into reality by its deadline of 2015.

The world leaders are gathering at the UN Headquarters in New York to review gains and gaps in the process to achieve the MDGs, universally accepted in 2000 to fight against extreme poverty, increase gender equality, strengthen health care for women and improve primary education.

Important messages

"There is no global project more worthwhile," Ban said. " Let us send a strong message of hope. Let us keep the promise."

"Despite the obstacles, despite the skepticism, despite the fast-approaching deadline of 2015, the Millennium Development Goals are achievable," Ban said.

As the clock ticks closer to the deadline, Ban called on the international community to stay true to its commitment to ending " the dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty."

"Ten years have passed since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration and the historical commitment to cut extreme poverty by half through the implementation of eight measurable and time- bound goals: the Millennium Development Goals," Ban wrote in a report earlier this year. "This vision and those measures remain relevant today."

Also addressing the MDGs summit, the president of the 65th General Assembly session, Joseph Deiss, stressed that the international community has a moral duty to care about the well-being of its weakest members.