NEW YORK – The United Nations Development Programme and the Inter-American Development Bank reaffirmed their long-standing cooperation agreement to assist member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In a ceremony held on Friday at the UN headquarters, Elena Martínez, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, and IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias signed a letter agreement that updates the legal and administrative framework for projects financed by the IDB and executed by the UNDP.
The new provisions amend and update a 1990 cooperation agreement between the UNDP and the IDB, which have worked closely for more than a quarter of a century. The amendments introduce standard language to be included in all UNDP project documents for new projects financed with IDB loan or grant resources.
UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and President Iglesias also signed a joint transmittal letter to inform their organizations’ staff at headquarters and field offices of the amended UNDP-IDB agreement, in order to ensure its effective and productive implementation.
The UNDP and the IDB cooperate on social and economic development projects aimed at, among other goals, boosting growth and employment, reducing poverty and inequality, fostering sound environmental and natural resource management and promoting regional integration.