New partnership for development welcomed, ministers take steps on education for all

• Pages: 126-127

Page 126

Following is the text of the communiqué issued by the Development Committee after its meeting on April 21 in Washington, DC. We met today to discuss future challenges for development and an action plan for universal primary education.

We welcomed the very important progress achieved in the Monterrey Consensus, laying out a new partnership compact between developed and developing countries, based on mutual responsibility and accountability, to achieve measurable improvements in sustainable growth and poverty reduction.We recognized the efforts of the World Bank and the IMF, working together with the UN, in contributing to this result.We look forward to their continuing collaboration and to strengthening this new partnership as we work toward a successful World Summit on Sustainable Development.

This new partnership for development recognizes that country-owned and -driven development strategies embodying sound policies and good governance have to be the starting point. Such strategies need to be supported by increased and more effective development assistance and by greater efforts to integrate developing countries into the global economy.We are committed to the implementation of these strategies and partnerships, such as the New Partnership for African Development, as part of the scaling up of activities that is necessary for implementing the Monterrey Consensus and to meet the Millennium Development Goals from the UN Millennium Declaration, endorsed by heads of state and government in the UN General Assembly on September 8, 2000; we will regularly review progress at future meetings.We welcomed the pledges made at the Monterrey conference by a number of donors to increase their official development assistance.

The comprehensive development framework/poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) approach is increasingly providing a common foundation for implementing the new partnership at the country level.While recognizing that scope for improvement exists, we shared the positive assessment of implementation to date, particularly in enhancing ownership.We look forward to continued progress in extending the participatory processes for the elaboration and monitoring of PRSPs; implementing pro-poor growth policies; enhancing collaboration to strengthen public expenditure management and to improve poverty and social impact analysis; and, among multilateral and bilateral development agencies, better aligning their programs with country...