The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—a set of eight international targets—were established in 2000 at the United Nations Millennium Summit. It took another two years for there to be a conference on how to actually finance them. Now, with the MDGs coming to a close this year, the international community is poised to plot a different course. Global leaders are meeting 13–16 July at the 3rd International Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to develop a financing plan for a new set of priorities—the sustainable development goals—prior to a September meeting to agree upon those proposed targets. Read more