India contributes additional million dollars to UN partnership fund

India has contributed an additional million dollars to a UN partnership fund launched to support sustainable development projects across the developing world.

The India-UN Development Partnership Fund was set up last month as a partnership between India and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC).

India had made an initial contribution of a million dollars when the fund was created and the amount was allocated for the implementation of a project benefiting seven Small Island Developing States in the South Pacific.

India yesterday enlarged its support to sustainable development through the multilateral system by making a supplemental contribution of one million dollars to the fund.

"India's approach to cooperation can be summarised as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or the whole word is one family," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said.

"With this approach we engage in South-South cooperation."

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Administrator Achim Steiner said the India-UN Development Partnership Fund plays an important role in funding South-South cooperation for effective development, and "thereby contributes to meeting both national development goals and the commitments of Agenda 2030."

Managed by UNOSSC, the fund will support Southern-owned and led, demand-driven, and transformational sustainable development projects across the developing world. Focusing on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States, United Nations agencies will implement the Fund s projects in close collaboration with partnering governments, a statement by UNOSSC said.

"India is a champion of the Global South," Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation and Director of UNOSSC Jorge Chediek said. India is also a champion of multilateralism. Through its example, and with the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is becoming a leader of South-South cooperation.

The fund, launched by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar during the Oceans Conference at the world body's headquarters, prioritises reducing poverty and hunger, improving health, education and equality, and expanding access to clean water and energy.

The first project under the fund was formulated by India and UNDP in consultation with the Governments of the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga. It will increase resilience to natural disasters in these seven Pacific island countries and contribute toward a Sustainable Development Goal of climate action.