Tarik Al Alami, officer in charge at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, says the Arab region has not made significant progress in reducing poverty and lags behind other regions in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. He said the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger,

the achievement of universal primary education and the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment represent still major challenges in some of the region's least developed countries. "The Arab region as a whole has not made significant progress in reducing income poverty", he said addressing a UN conference on Financing Development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which concluded in Doha on June 18 evening. Child health In a presentation on the region's performance, Al Alami provided figures ranging from health and education, to employment and poverty. The average rate of underweight children below the age of five in the Arab region stands at 12.7%, but in some least developed Arab countries it reaches up to 37.6%, Al Alami said quoting UN statistics. Youth literacy between 1990 and 2006 increased from 66.6% to 83.4%, but 7.5m children remain still out of school, he added. Commenting on gender equality, he said by April 2007 women held on average only 8.7% of the region's parliamentary seats, a figure among the lowest in the world. In addition he said gains in education attained since 1990 have not translated into higher female participation in non agricultural labour market. Statistics also showed how progress rates vary significantly between countries in the GCC and the rest of the region. Green house gas emissions soar Environment sustainability and sanitation conditions are areas of key concern for the Arab region, said Tarik Al Alami, officer in charge at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. In the least developed Arab countries only around one quarter of the rural population has access to improved sanitation facilities. Total carbon dioxide emissions in the region soared to 1.2 trillion metric tonnes in 2003, an 81% increase since 1990, the UN official said.