Replying to Brown, Ban said: "The clock is ticking louder and louder every day. To reach the goals on time we have to take concerted action now. Some say we will not make it but I say we still can."
WORLD LEADERS
Brown's call to put the goals back on track was backed by leaders including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The goals were also endorsed by business leaders including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, Riley Bechtel, chairman of Bechtel, John Chambers, chairman of Cisco Systems, and Niall Fitzgerald, chairman of Reuters.
Brown, the other leaders and business figures called for a U.N. meeting to be held next year bringing together heads of government with leaders from the private sector, voluntary and faith groups to speed up action on the development goals adopted at a U.N. summit in 2000.
The goals include halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015, achieving universal primary education, reducing child and maternal mortality, stopping the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and halving the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation.
Brown's White House talks on Monday followed reports he would try to distance himself from Bush, but both men sought to show they could strike up a strong bond.
The British leader told reporters on Tuesday: "I'm looking for a strengthened relationship between Britain and America, and that relationship is built not even on mutual interests, it's built on shared values."
But Brown gave Bush no promises on how long Britain would keep its 5,000 troops in Iraq. At a question-and-answer session Tuesday with U.N. officials and diplomats, he was asked by Iraq's Ambassador Hamid al-Bayati if he was going to "abandon the Iraqi people under the pressure to withdraw your forces".
Brown replied: "We are doing what we can. We accept our responsibilities and we will discharge our responsibilities to the people of Iraq."
