The Australian Agency for International Development and the U.S Agency for International Development have announced a new strategic partnership to boost their shared efforts in reducing poverty and achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.
“This new partnership reflects our shared commitment to increasing stability and prosperity in the developing world. It builds on the strong and enduring relationship that exists between the United States and Australia in the areas of foreign policy, defense and international security, and trade and investment,” AusAID Director General Peter Baxter and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said July 20 in a joint statement describing the partnership.
The memorandum of understanding on the partnership was signed June 10.
Baxter and Shah outlined four priorities that they said will be the focus of the two agencies’ collaboration, namely:
- Cooperation on reconstruction, stabilization and development in Afghanistan.
- Agricultural innovation and research to improve food security, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Climate change and nature resource management in Indonesia.
- Family planning and maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
