Accra, July 15, GNA - Ghana was on Thursday commended for making tremendous strides towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Ghana's record indicates remarkable advancement in five out of the eight goals, namely reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people, and reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Also, ensuring that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling and eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education and at all levels, participants at the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa Cluster meeting in Accra stated.

Other goals the country was commended on include efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases and the development of an open, rule based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system.

The meeting under the theme, "The African Moment: Seizing the Opportunity for Transformational Development," seeks to examine the best ways to tackle the region's most important challenges in a deliberate, cohesive and sustained way.

It would also assess the prospects and realities of the MDGs progress in Africa, with emphasis on lessons learned and practical actions to accelerate progress towards MDGs.

Ghana was, however, encouraged to step-up efforts in reducing child mortality, improvement of maternal health and ensuring environmental sustainability.

The Accra Meeting being attended by 45 UNDP Resident Country Directors, as well as heads of other UN agencies, regional institutions, experts from the academia and political spheres was opened by Mr John Dramani Mahama, Vice President of Ghana.

Mr Mahama who acknowledged the three major challenges noted that Government had stepped up efforts to ensure environmental sustainability with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) Bill before Parliament, which seeks to reduce the poverty gap between the northern and the southern parts of the country.

Ms Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, noted that even though MDGs offered a means to better life, progress across the continent had been uneven.

"For instance, no country in Sub-Saharan Africa is on course to achieve all the Goals by 2015," she said.

She called for acceleration of progress over the next five years, which should focus on continuing proven strategies, policies and interventions and making a radical break with those that did not work.

Ms Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, urged African countries to learn and share experiences from both middle income and poor countries which had moved forward on their MDG agenda.