GPEDC high-level meeting opens in Mexico City

Over 1,500 heads of state, government officials and leaders from international development organizations, businesses, civil society and foundations gathered on Tuesday in Mexico City to open the first high-level meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation.

The event, which builds on the 2011 Busan commitments on aid effectiveness, plans to review global progress in making aid more effective. Participants are expected to agree on a set of actions to boost progress toward the commitments, and move discussions on aid effectiveness forward in the post-2015 global development agenda.

On the first day, discussions centered on the “how” of development cooperation, including examples of country-led development, linking aid to budgets and best practices in working with foundations.

The sessions were opened by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, his fellow countryman and OECD chief Angel Gurría, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who in his speech called on all stakeholders to accelerate progress on the Millennium Development Goals before the 2015 deadline expires, and deliver on all Busan commitments to make aid more effective, flexible and suited to each country’s needs.

“And as we shape an inspiring post-2015 development agenda, the international community must be committed to supporting the future goals and targets through a renewed global partnership,” Ban said. “Critically, we must ensure the financing to match our ambitions.”

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah attended the first plenary meeting, at which participants agreed it’s time to accelerate progress on country ownership, aid budget scrutiny, untying official development assistance and in creating a more balanced relationship between donors and beneficiaries for the latter to become true partners in their own development.

Other side panels focused on domestic resource mobilization, how to best work with the private sector and respecting human rights, innovation and knowledge in development programs, and a final working group on fighting illicit capital flights led by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, one of the GPEDC’s three co-chairs and current Nigerian finance minister.

Want to know more? Follow @DevCooperation on Twitter for updates from Mexico City.

See more:

GPEDC told to push traditional donors, ‘nudge’ new ones on transparency
GPEDC high-level meeting to push Busan agenda even further
3 tests for the Global Partnership
Financing the future: Why domestic revenue mobilization belongs on the post-2015 agenda
Boosting economic development: Real aid to the private sector
How to make development cooperation more effective in Asia-Pacific
We must seize the opportunity of the First High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation

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