DUSHANBE, May 23, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- On Saturday May 21, President Emomali Rahmon received visiting UNDP Administrator, Ms. Helen Clark.

According to the presidential press service, cooperation between Tajikistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), including the process of achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and implementation of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for Tajikistan designed for 2010-2015 as well as ways of strengthening of national capacity to address modern challenges and threats were a major topic of the meeting.

Covering the period 2010-2015, this UNDAF has been designed to support Tajikistan’s goals for its National Development Strategy (NDS) and the MDGs).  Developed through an extensive consultative process involving all stakeholders, it is also part of the donors’ Joint Country Support Strategy (JCSS), which came about as a result of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.  Therefore, this document complements the work of other donors, and builds on the UN’s comparative advantages.

In the course of the talks, Ms. Clark reportedly hailed success made by Tajikistan in reducing the poverty rate and strengthening economy.  Tajikistan has taken considerable steps toward political and economic reforms that allowed reducing the poverty rate from more than 70 percent in 2003 to 45 percent this year, the UNDP administrator stressed.

The two also discussed issues related to achievement of sustainable development, expansion of interaction in improving the nature management system, and strengthening of regional cooperation in the field of rational use of water-and-energy resources, the source said.

Similar issues were discussed during the UNDP Administrator’s meeting with Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi that took place on May 20.  

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations’ global development network.  It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.  UNDP operates in 166 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.