Antonio Banderas appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UNDP

The Press Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released Wednesday a statement, announcing that Spanish actor Antonio Banderas is joining tennis superstar Maria Sharapova, soccer legend Zinédine Zidane and others as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNDP.

“Antonio Banderas will advocate for the poor and push for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight globally-agreed targets with a 2015 deadline to halve world poverty, with a focus on Africa and Latin America,” said in the statement.

“Poverty robs us of our potential as a people, preventing us from being all that we can be,” Antonio Banderas said.

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark welcomed the actor’s appointment. “His proven commitment to the causes of the less fortunate makes him an ideal advocate for our work,” she said.