Oxfam spokesperson Stephen Hale said: “If this Panel wants to be taken seriously, they need to focus on action now as well as life after 2015. There are 1146 days to go until the deadline for meeting the existing MDGs, at the end of 2015. 61 million children still don't have the chance to go to school, every day mothers continue to die needlessly in childbirth, and more than a billion people go to bed hungry. These people deserve a far stronger push, starting now, to deliver the existing MDGs.” “Donor aid to developing countries has fallen massively this year, jeopardizing developing countries’ ability to fight poverty. A financial transaction tax in Europe, with at least 50 percent of the revenues committed to development and climate change, would be one important way to bolster efforts to get the MDGs on track.” “The rights and the voices of the world's poor must be central to the decision on the future of the Millennium Development Goals. Our leaders must have the vision to commit to a set of inspirational and ambitious goals, to overcome the growing inequality and un-sustainability that scars our world.” Read more UN press release: UN appoints High-level Panel on post-2015 development agenda