- Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC; Governor: Kyosuke Shinozawa) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for strengthening cooperative efforts toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).1 The document was signed and exchanged between JBIC Governor Shinozawa and UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis, who is currently visiting Japan.
- This MOU aims at building a strategic partnership for achieving the MDGs with a particular focus on poverty reduction, by holding regular consultation meetings, sharing best practices on the ground in development activities, exchanging information and conducting joint studies. The two institutions intend to provide efficient and effective support for achieving the MDGs by complementing and closely collaborating with each other. This will be done as JBIC and the UNDP make maximum use of their respective comparative advantages: experience and knowhow JBIC has accumulated primarily in economic and social infrastructure development, and information obtained through UNDP's global network as well as its knowhow on capacity building in developing countries and making policy proposals.
- The MDGs are the development goals for which the international community made a commitment to make unified efforts upon entering the 21st century. They consist of eight major targets to be achieved by 2015 in such areas as poverty reduction, education, gender equality, health, and the environment. By providing ODA loans, JBIC has supported poverty reduction by promoting sustainable growth as well as the social sector, including education and health. The Medium-Term Strategy for Overseas Economic Cooperation Operations adopted in April 2005 also refers to "meeting the MDGs." The UNDP plays a central role in achieving the MDGs as the stronghold of the global development network of the UN system and is working to connect and coordinate individual country efforts.2 JBIC and the UNDP have collaborated on the occasion of the UN Millennium+5 Summit in September 2005 held in New York, and Mr. Dervis participated in the symposium, "Infrastructure for Poverty Reduction," co-organized by JBIC, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in France and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) in Germany. With the signing of this MOU, JBIC and UNDP will further strengthen collaborative efforts.
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1 In September 2000, the UN Millennium Summit held in New York adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, which set out an agenda on peace and stability, development and poverty, environment, human rights and good governance. The Millennium Development Goals were compiled in 2001 by combining this Millennium Declaration with the international development goals adopted at summits and major international conferences during the 1990s.
2 UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis was concurrently appointed Chair of the United Nations Development Group by UN Secretary-General Koffi Anan to become the driving force for integrating global UN activities toward achieving the MDGs.
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