The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the government of the UAE have signed a Declaration of Intent to work together on sustainable growth and poverty reduction in rural communities in developing countries.

The declaration was signed by Mohamed Béavogui, director of IFAD partnership and resource mobilisation, and Younis Al Khoori, undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, UAE, said a company statement.

The UAE is one of the founding members of IFAD, an international financial institution and a specialised United Nations agency dedicated to supporting rural people, and has always maintained a strong partnership with the fund.

In 2013, the UAE became the world’s largest donor country of official development assistance (ODA) making a historic leap from its 19th position in 2012, it stated.

Last year, IFAD and the GCC signed a Memorandum of Understanding which laid the groundwork for collaboration in developing sustainable solutions to environmental challenges in GCC countries –Bahrain, State of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Building on this strategic partnership, the declaration will further enhance areas of cooperation with the UAE such as joint studies and publications; participation in relevant working groups, conferences and seminars; staff exchanges and training programmes; and human resources cooperation.

More specifically, UAE nationals would be exposed to the United Nations and International Financing Institutions with a focus on understanding key challenges related to development projects and improve their understanding of programme implementation processes, it added. – TradeArabia News Service