UNECE and EIB Strengthen Economic Cooperation to Support 2030 Agenda

Strategic Insights -

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote economic cooperation, cohesion, and support countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The collaboration aims to leverage the organizations' strengths and expertise to promote policy collaboration, norms and standards, capacity building, and project-based collaboration, particularly in areas such as environment, transport, and gender.

Key Takeaways:

  • The UNECE and EIB will strengthen joint efforts to promote economic cooperation, cohesion, and support countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda and SDGs.
  • The collaboration will focus on policy collaboration, norms and standards, capacity building, and project-based collaboration in areas such as environment, transport, and gender.
  • The UNECE will leverage its convening power, state-of-the-art practices, and expertise to support the implementation of the UNECE legal instruments, while the EIB will promote the dissemination of UNECE standards and good practices.
  • Key sectoral areas to be covered by the cooperation include environment, transport, gender, and other sectors such as energy and innovation.
  • The MoU is a significant step towards strengthening the support offered to member States across a broad range of sustainable development issues.

Statistics:

  • The EIB has invested over €10 billion in projects linked to environmental priorities in the 2014-2020 period. [1]
  • The UNECE has developed a range of normative products and analytical outputs, including the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. [2]
  • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030, with targets and indicators to measure progress. [3]
  • The EIB has six Vice-Presidents responsible for overseeing the Bank's operations and investments worldwide. [4]

Sources:

  • [1] "European Investment Bank: Environmental Investments 2014-2020" (HT Media Ltd., 2020)
  • [2] "UNECE: Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution" (UNECE, no date)
  • [3] "United Nations: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" (United Nations, 2015)
  • [4] "European Investment Bank: Organization" (European Investment Bank, no date)