United Nations (UN) member states are about to adopt a new development agenda to tackle the key issue of inequality, media reported here Tuesday.

Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), told Chilean daily La Tercera that countries will adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development following a three-day summit starting Friday.

The agenda's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will replace the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which have guided countries' efforts during the past 15 years, Barcena said.

The difference between the two sets of goals is especially relevant for Latin America, Barcena said, "as the new road map for development targets several aspects of inequality, the main problem facing our region."

According to the UN, the "17 proposed goals ... will stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importance towards building a more equitable and sustainable world for all."

More than 150 world leaders are expected to attend the UN Sustainable Development Summit to be held Sept. 25 to 27 at the organization's headquarters in New York.

It is essential for regional countries to allocate resources needed to implement the 2030 agenda, which mainly aims to eradicate poverty.

"Our countries also face the challenge of more efficiently channeling the flow of private financing, as well as coming up with innovative financing mechanisms," the ECLAC chief said.

Barcena sounded optimistic, however, about the region's ability to meet the challenge.

"Today ... we have new and better tools, and solid institutions, to move forward with a transformative process and overcome the most prominent feature of our region: inequality," she said. Endi

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