Bangkok--25 Oct--UNIS Bangkok
Reaffirming their commitment to work together to enhance the impact of
United Nations development activities, the United Nations Regional
Commissions and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today
signed a Cooperation Framework at UNDP Headquarters in New York.
The Cooperation Framework is intended to build on the complementarities
between the work of the five Regional Commissions and UNDP. The Regional
Commissions and UNDP have agreed to collaborate, coordinate and complement
each other in assisting Member States achieve the Millennium Development
Goals and other internationally agreed development goals.
They also commit to sharing knowledge on policy development issues,
programmes, and emerging priorities to support sustainable human
development; and to address issues likely to benefit from regional or
multi-country involvement.
Using their comparative strengths, the Regional Commissions and UNDP will
work together to encourage organizational effectiveness at the global and
regional level and also, where relevant, at the national and local levels.
Joint collaboration is expected to focus on a number of areas, including
human resources development; country-level planning processes; follow-up to
United Nations Summits and international conferences; regional
coordination; knowledge management; regional and inter-regional technical
cooperation; advisory services at the country level; and joint products and
initiatives at the regional and global levels.
The five Regional Commissions are: the Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA), the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the Economic and Social
Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). Signing the agreement on behalf of
ESCAP was Ms Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Secretary.
Upon the signing of the new agreement, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Executive
Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, and current Coordinator of
the Regional Commissions, stressed that the implementation of the
Cooperation Framework, through channeling the comparative strengths and
capacities of the Regional Commissions and UNDP, should result in more
effective and efficient support and service delivery to the developing
countries in the various regions and to UN country development work. This
should also foster more coherence in UN development work at the country,
regional and global levels.
Mr. Kemal Dervi?, UNDP Administrator and Chair of the Untied Nations
Development Group, emphasized that strong partnerships are critical to the
provision of quality development services and expressed confidence that the
new Cooperation Framework will mark a new stage in this partnership for
results. He also pledged UNDP’s continuing support to building a more
responsive and effective Untied Nations at the country and regional levels.