This summary of Millennium Development Goals in the Arab Region 2005 was prepared as a collaborative ‎effort of United Nations agencies in the region on the occasion of the September 2005 World Summit and ‎the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, this effort was coordinated by ESCWA. It provides an ‎overview of progress in the Arab region ‎ towards the stated aim of achieving the Goals by 2015 and ‎highlights key challenges and issues. Data and analyses are presented by sub-region. The Mashreq ‎countries, namely, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and the Syrian Arab Republic; the Maghreb ‎countries, namely, Algeria, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco and Tunisia; the States of the Gulf ‎Cooperation Council (GCC), namely, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab ‎Emirates; and the least-developed countries (LDCs), namely, Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia, the ‎Sudan and Yemen. In order to facilitate analysis, countries were grouped according to geographic proximity, ‎similarity in resource endowment and the level of development. ‎