News Brief No. 01/90

News Brief: IMF Supports UN's Millennium Development Goals

September 19, 2001

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Horst Köhler today welcomed the United Nation's announcement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and called the goals an affirmation of the international community's commitment to free individuals from the dehumanizing conditions of abject poverty. "The IMF is committed to doing its part in these efforts," Mr. Köhler stated.

The MDGs' targets and indicators are the outcome of extensive consultations between members of the UN Secretariat and staff of the IMF, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Bank. The goals represent the harmonization of the International Development Goals agreed at various global conferences and summits of the last decade with the UN Millennium Declaration adopted in September 2000 by 147 heads of state. These goals have since been incorporated in the UN's Road Map Towards the Implementation of the Millennium Declaration.

Mr. Köhler pointed, in particular, to the new, eighth goal—which illustrates the responsibilities of developed countries in engaging in a global partnership for development. This "two pillar" approach to poverty reduction—in which the efforts of developing countries are complemented by assistance from the international community—requires the commitment of industrial countries to, among other things, increase aid flows to poor countries, and for all countries to remove barriers to the exports of developing countries, and work to develop sound trade and financial systems.

Mr. Köhler noted that efforts should now turn to implementation and monitoring, and that it was important that countries and institutions be held accountable for their contributions to the MDGs process.

The IMF would contribute within its areas of expertise. Reporting progress toward achievement of the goals at the country-level in low-income countries will rely on nationally-owned poverty reduction strategies, such as those contained in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. The Managing Director also noted that achieving the MDGs will be a significant focus of the upcoming UN Conference on Financing for Development, which would be an important vehicle for harnessing the broad support of the international community.