Significant gaps remain in delivering on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the areas of aid, trade, debt relief, access to new technologies and affordable essential medicines. This Report monitors the progress made in achieving the targets of MDG 8, including continued attention to the impact of the global crisis on meeting the targets set under MDG 8 and embedding any new commitments resulting from the High-level Plenary Meeting of the 65th session of the General Assembly on the MDGs into the monitoring process. Policy coherence is a central theme of the 2011 issue of the Report, which provides recommendations to all major stakeholders on how to address the remaining implementation gaps.

The MDG Gap Task Force Report systematically tracks existing international commitments and their fulfilment at the international level in the areas of official development assistance, trade, debt relief, and access to essential medicines and technology as defined by the targets and indicators of MDG 8. The MDG Gap Task Force Report 2014 will build on the 2013 Report, by drawing lessons learned from monitoring MDG 8 and analysing conceptual gaps created by how MDG was originally defined. This should provide insight to discussions on the post-2015 agenda. The Task Force consists of more than 30 UN entities, including participation from the World Bank and the IMF, as well as the OECD and WTO. The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat and UNDP and are the lead agencies in coordinating the work of the Task Force.

The present report was prepared by the MDG Gap Task Force which was created to improve the monitoring of the MDG 8 by leveraging inter-agency coordination. The objective of the report is to identify remaining obstacles to accelerate progress in the achieving the targets contained in MDG 8. It highlights the degree of compliance to the commitments made by developed and developing countries with a view to strengthening the global partnership for development. The main message of the report is that while there has been progress on several counts, important gaps remain in delivering on the global commitments in the area of aid, trade, debt relief, and access to new technologies and affordable essential medicines.

In September 2010, world leaders will take stock of MDG achievements to date at the High-level Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Much progress has been made since 2000, but there is still a great deal more to be achieved in order to fulfill the promise of the MDGs. In this sense, The global partnership for development stands at a critical juncture, with only five years left until the 2015 deadline to delivery on the commitments made and to achieve the MDGs. Remaining gaps are still very large and there have been setbacks because of the global food, energy and financial crises. The deadline for commitments in a number of crucial areas (including increased aid volume, improved aid effectiveness, And The conclusion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations) is 2010, but there is little prospect of successful delivery. The 2010 issue of the report identifies the implementation gaps in the commitments made under MDG 8 and provides recommendations on how to address them, On strengthening the global partnership, and ultimately supporting developing countries in achieving the MDGs