Постоянное представительство Российской Федерации при ООН
russiaun.ru

 

The Russian Federation’s role as a provider of international development assistance is unique due to the fact that it “re-emerged” as a donor. The Soviet Union was one of the biggest providers of official development assistance in the world, with a well-established system of development aid. Many of the projects implemented at that time were large-scale, ranging from areas of infrastructure to education, health and of course knowledge transfer. They were aimed at sustainability of results that would enable recipient countries to become self-sufficient.

About 7 years ago, the Russian Federation returned to the category of donors of international development assistance provided through the United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies.

Since then, our country has become an active global development cooperation partner. Currently, international development assistance is a key component of our foreign policy, and it is increasing in scope and maturing in nature.

It is important to note that the Russian development assistance is fully in line with national priorities of our partner countries, as well as the overall framework of the MDGs and the SDGs.

The current priorities of our international development assistance, as well as its objectives and principles are set out in the State concept of international development assistance policy of the Russian Federation that was approved by President Putin on 20 April 2014. As of the end of 2014, the overall international development assistance provided by our country, that according to OECD falls under the category of Official Development Assistance, amounted to 875 Million USD – it is 23% more than the previous year. 

The sectors that are mainly targeted by projects and programmes supported by Russia are health (maternal and child mortality, communicable and non-communicable diseases), education, environmental sustainability, food security (“Food for work” programme, school feeding), as well as socio-economic development in general, with a focus on poverty eradication. We also pay increased attention to the creation and modernization of trade and economic infrastructure, industry, including through innovation, capacity-building in such areas as the fight against terrorism and organized crime, as well as in public administration.

The State concept of international development assistance policy also stipulates that the projects are mainly focused on (but not limited to) the CIS and Central Asian regions, with particular attention to the Eurasian integration processes.

Naturally, the countries of our region are among our strategic partners due to historic, cultural, economic and political links and ties that we share. 2013 has seen a major shift in our development assistance towards these countries, where we now channel more than 40% of the funding.

Nevertheless, we do not intend to limit our national development assistance policy only to the Eurasian space. Among other recipients of our aid are countries of Latin America (up to 30%), South and South-East Asia (about 12%), Sub-Saharan Africa (about 8%) and Middle East and North Africa (4,5%).

Assistance channeled through the UN system amounts to 25% of Russian development aid. For us the UN system is a reliable and high-quality partner with strong capacities in the area of project implementation, needs assessment, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

In the last three years, we have allocated more than 60 million USD to the implementation of projects of various funds and programmes, in addition to contributions paid to their regular resources. Further projects for up to 68 Million USD are currently in the pipeline.

Building on this experience, we started working on a solid normative basis for cooperation with leading agencies of the UN development system. This work has already resulted in signing partnership agreements that are strategic in their nature. Among others, the two most recent examples are agreements signed with UNDP and WFP. Similar work is underway with UNICEF and UNIDO.

We consider the Partnership Framework Agreement with UNDP as a major breakthrough in our cooperation with the Programme. It was signed by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark in January 2015. Overall, it is aimed at enabling our country to share knowledge, expertise and build capacities in other partner states, especially within our region and integration processes with Russia’s participation, such as the Eurasian Economic Union, the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and others. It not only sets the strategic framework for our future joint work but also establishes geographic and thematic priorities of our cooperation, as well as foresees the input of both parties to joint projects and programmes. 

The Agreement to create the Russia-UNDP Trust Fund for development was signed in June 2015 by Administrator Clark and Minister Lavrov. Current financial commitments of Russia under the Fund Agreement amount to 25 Million USD for the period of 4 years, with possibility of additional pledges. The Steering Committee of the Trust Fund is composed of representatives of the key Russian ministries responsible for development cooperation, as well as UNDP officials. Among other things, this new mechanism allows us to streamline the process of selecting and supporting projects and programmes. 

The activities supported by the Fund will focus, inter alia, on poverty eradication, disaster risk reduction and early preparedness for emergencies, as well as energy and environment.

In this regard I would like to note the important role of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS, its Director Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu and her teams in New York and Istanbul who have provided essential support to us in building this successful partnership. We are very grateful to them for their valuable work.

UNDP has become the first UN entity with which we developed a comprehensive and strategic agenda of cooperation, which again proved its status as the leading and one of the most effective UN development agencies.

Over the last 3 years, Russia and UNDP have been working on a comprehensive set of development objectives, as well as on a solid resource base for project implementation. In addition to regular resources contributions, about 50 Million USD have been allocated or pledged by Russia to UNDP projects in support of the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals.

The Programme on Comprehensive Development of the Naryn Area of the Kyrgyz Republic was launched at the end of 2013 to promote sustainable socio-economic development of the region in accordance with national priorities. It is mainly focused on agriculture development, water management, support to small and medium enterprises, strengthening the system of professional education. It also includes the small grants programme. 

A number of important results have been achieved, including rehabilitation of roads, launch of new enterprises, access to clean water and reliable electricity, capacity building for residents, etc. Overall, this project will contribute to the achievement of the 6 SDGs.

Another project in Kyrgyzstan supported by Russia is aimed at Socio-economic development of communities around radioactive sites. It was launched to promote comprehensive social and economic development of the populated areas (totalling nearly 15 thousand inhabitants) located in the vicinity of radioactive tailings sites and affected by especially difficult environmental and social conditions.The project outcomes are interlinked with the EurAsEC interstate special program “Remediation of EurAsEC Member State Territories Affected by Uranium Mining Industries” launched in 2013 and implemented by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency.

So far, 20 activities have been implemented in the 4 sites of the project, including rehabilitation of water and electricity supply systems and infrastructure, renovation of social and education facilities, establishment of new enterprises, as well as agriculture development.

Another important project that started in 2015 is aimed at Integrated Support to Rural Development and Building Resilient Communities in Armenia. The objective of the project is to ensure balanced development of the targeted regions through an integrated socio-economic approach, as well as raising the quality of life and income level of the local population in bordering areas of Tavush region.

It is expected that the residents of all 45 bordering communities of Tavush region, with an overall population of 62 000, will get direct or indirect benefits from implementation of the project in the form of access to quality infrastructure, collection centers of agricultural products and parks of agricultural machinery, as well as employment in agricultural and agro-processing sectors.

The project “Improvement of livelihood of 1 million rural population in 9 districts of the Republic of Tajikistan” was the first UNDP project in this country funded by Russia. It aims to promote employment and facilitate business practices in nine of the most vulnerable regions of Tajikistan, taking into consideration their social and economic needs. The activities are focused on enabling business environment by developing public-private dialogue at the local level, as well as capacity building of local authorities and enterprises.

A significant number of activities is already underway, including capacity building of civil service and civil society, microcredit support, facilitation of public-private partnership, infrastructure development and awareness raising among population. The efficiency of this project is ensured by direct contact with beneficiaries and opportunity to focus on the problems of local rural development relevant to certain districts, taking into account their particular nature.

Another project in our development assistance portfolio is entitled “Assisting the Government of the Republic of Belarus in Accession to the World Trade Organization through Strengthening National Institutional Capacity and Expertise”. We are currently in the fourth phase of the implementation of this project that was supported by Russia for the first time in 2008. 

It is aimed at preparing analytical reviews concerning compliance of the Belarusian legislation with the norms of the WTO basic agreements and prospects of its improvement, training of national experts in the area of integration into the world trade system, raising public awareness about benefits and impact of WTO accession. This work is receiving a positive feedback, with UNDP being a key partner of the Government of the republic of Belarus that provides international technical assistance in the area of integration of the national economy into the world trade system.

Another factor that has influenced our cooperation with UNDP is an unprecedented increase in demand for humanitarian assistance. 

Since 2013 we have supported UNDP’s activities in the framework of multiple humanitarian appeals, including for Syria, the Philippines, Cuba and Vanuatu. 

For example, the Russian contribution to the UNDP project “Time critical debris disposal and management in areas affected by Typhoon Haiyan” played a critical role in initiating the debris clearance activities in the Philippines, helped provide cash for work employment to more than 40 000 women and men workers and paved the way for longer term recovery and reconstruction efforts.

The funding provided by Russia to UNDP within the Syrian appeal in 2013 helped to improve living conditions of more than 800 000 affected people and create an enabling environment for humanitarian assistance, reducing the demand for humanitarian relief, and enhancing the resilience of affected communities. We have recently renewed UNDP funding for Syria, focusing on improved service delivery and rehabilitation of basic and social infrastructure, as well as support to livelihoods. Additionally, we hope that our support will contribute to the improvement of the situation with international and internal displacement.

The Steering Committee of the Russia-UNDP Trust Fund for development approved the first five projects for funding: “Integrated Osh area-based development” in Kyrgyzstan, “Promotion of employment and self-employment of the population in small and medium-sized towns in the Republic of Belarus”, “Supporting agriculture and rural development in Serbia”, “Strengthening preparedness and response capacity” in Tajikistan and “Integrated rural tourism development” in Armenia. 

All these projects are relevant to the priorities of our partnership with UNDP, include sustainable outcomes, are innovative and contain an important element of knowledge transfer. Decisions on funding additional projects can be made at the next Steering Committee meeting that will take place in two months. 

Finally, today we would like to launch the regional project “Disaster Resilience for Pacific Small Island Developing States” that was approved for funding from the Trust Fund in December 2015.

The overall project goal is to effectively address the consequences of, and responses to, climate-related natural hazards. At the outcome level it will strengthen early warning systems, climate monitoring capacity, preparedness and planning mechanisms, management tools for disaster recovery in countries of the region. This project will focus on a few key niches and countries where Russian assistance can have maximum impact. The project will also provide an opportunity to draw on Russian expertise, specifically through the National Emergency Management Centre (EMERCOM) and the Russian Federation Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (ROSHYDROMET).

We are confident that our joint efforts will help us significantly improve the resilience of the Pacific SIDS to climate-related hazards.

I believe that Mr. Haoliang Xu, UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific might wish to provide some feedback on the project from the UNDP perspective.

I would like to thank Ms. Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, Permanent Representatives, UNDP Regional Directors and delegates for your presence and for your attention. We hope to develop our partnership even further and stand ready to work together in order to achieve the goals set out in the new global sustainable development agenda.