WORLD LEADERS MET today in New York to attend a two-day United Nations summit aimed at easing global poverty.

It is estimated that one billion people are hungry every day across the world.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power said urgent action to reach the 2015 goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

The 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were set ten years ago but are far behind schedule, RTÉ reports.

The MDGs include:

• Cutting the number of people in extreme poverty by half
• Cutting the number of children who die before reaching five year of age by two thirds
• Fairer trade
• Offering the internet to the world’s poor

The European Union is expected give $1bn worth of MDG funds, while the World Bank is expected to give $750m for education – however, a further $120bn will need to be found over the next five years if the goals are to be met.

US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are all present at the summit and are all expected to put forth ideas for meeting the goals.