Partnership Framework Agreements signed with Government of Luxembourg

NEW YORK — The United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund, UNFPA and the United Nations Capital Development Fund signed a revised partnership framework agreement with the Government of Luxembourg to reconfirm and extend their respective strong partnerships.

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin and UNCDF Executive Secretary David Morrison praised Luxembourg for encouraging the four agencies to achieve a high degree of harmonization and for a model agreement, which was found to be holistic, predictable, flexible and structured in terms of support.

Luxembourg Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Marie-Josée Jacobs, welcomed the harmonized agreement as a confirmation of the commitments of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness and stresses that the Government of Luxembourg would refer to this effort as part of the forum on aid effectiveness in Busan later in the year.

Luxembourg will support UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNCDF in their respective missions to support the fight against poverty, to help countries make the transition to development and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This will be facilitated through contributions to regular resources, thematic priority areas and country-specific funding.

The joint signing ceremony between the UN agencies and the Government of Luxembourg marks an important milestone towards increased coordination and harmonization among international development stakeholders. The agreement is critical in a time of international economic uncertainty, as it increases aid predictability and enhances forward looking planning for jointly achieving international development goals.

The Government of Luxembourg is part of the current group of five industrialized countries, which have been allocating more than 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to development cooperation since 2000. Luxembourg has reached 1.09 per cent in 2010 and ranks first among European Union member states and second among all OECD/DAC donors in terms of aid per capita.

The Partnership Framework Agreements confirmed the aid effectiveness commitments of the four UN agencies and Luxembourg to translate into concrete actions the goals adopted by the international community in Paris, as well as the importance that Luxembourg attaches to the internal development issues and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.