Assembly/AU/Decl. 1 (V) Page 1 DECLARATION ON THE REVIEW OF THE MILLENNIUM DECLARATION AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) We, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the African Union, meeting at the Fifth Ordinary Session of our Assembly, in Sirte, Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, on 4th and 5th July 2005; Recalling that the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2000 was a laudable initiative by the international community in eradicating poverty, accelerating human development, integrating the African continent into the 21st century global economy and making globalization more beneficial to the people of Africa; Considering that we have devoted our resources and taken far-reaching decisions and policy reforms in the political, social, economic, environmental and cultural domains in favor of eradicating poverty, achieving rapid sustainable and socioeconomic development, as well as accelerating the integration of our peoples; Aware that although some progress has been made in several countries, needs to be done in order to attain the MDGs within the deadline; more Convinced that the achievement of these goals requires the cooperation of the private sector, civil society, the international community and other stakeholders and solidarity with Africa in various fields; Conscious of the fact that gender equality and women's empowerment are essential for poverty eradication and for the achievement of all other MDGs; Determined to eradicate poverty and to improve the socio-economic conditions of the peoples of our continent, and having undertaken a review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in order to assess the progress made thus far and the challenges confronting our individual and collective efforts; Determined further to fulfill our commitments to the Millennium Declaration and the achievement of the MDGs within the deadline; Reaffirming our strong commitment to the implementation of the Decisions and the Declaration of the 2004 Ouagadougou Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa, particularly, youth employment; Decides to adopt the Common African Position on the Review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals to constitute Africa’s input into the Review of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, to be submitted to the UN General Assembly in September 2005.