Cameron in Liberia for top UN poverty meeting

British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Liberia on Friday to co-chair a high-level United Nations meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on tackling global poverty. Cameron, who arrived in Monrovia late Thursday, toured the capital of the west African nation which is one of the world's most impoverished countries as it slowly rebuilds from a devastating civil war which ended a decade ago. He visited some Liberian schools before heading into the meeting with Sirleaf and third co-chair, Indonesian President Susil Bambang Yudhoyono, an AFP journalist witnessed. The leaders are due to hold a press conference later Friday. The High-Level Panel was set up by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in July 2012, when he appointed 27 members to advise him on a development agenda beyond 2015, the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The eight anti-poverty goals outlined in 2000 aimed to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. While certain countries achieved the goals set down, many -- particularly in the most needy areas such as sub-Saharan Africa -- made little progress. Liberia has made gains in promoting gender equality, and combating AIDS, but according to its 2010 MDG report, was unlikely to reach goals on poverty, hunger, universal primary education and reductions in child mortality. The High Level Panel includes leaders from civil society, private sector and government from across the globe, who will carry out wide consultations on the future of poverty eradication and present a report in May 2013.