Dmitry Pankin, head of EDB, speaks at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
New York, UN, 28 September 2015. The delegation of Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) headed by the Chairman of the Management Board took part in the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which included the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda. The summit approved the 17 Sustainable Development Goals until 2030.
Eurasian Development Bank is ready for active cooperation with international organisations, which work to create conditions for economic growth in the Bank's member states. Dmitry Pankin, Chairman of the Management Board at EDB, stated this at the UN General Assembly.
Speaking at the plenary session of the UN summit, Dmitry Pankin emphasised that the key sustainable development goals proposed by the UN were the improvement of wellbeing and the eradication of poverty.
"Global and regional development institutions can become not only catalysers, which create conditions for the reform of economic policies, large-scale infrastructure construction and economic modernisation, but also the channels to attract additional finance," Dmitry Pankin said. "This will require close cooperation and coordination of the provided aid. Our institution has positive experience in bilateral cooperation with the World Bank. In our opinion, the United Nations is the ideal floor for dialogue and the launching of respective coordination mechanisms with the involvement of all participants of the donor community."
The speaker noted that the adjustment of economic and social policies might play a fundamental role in improving sustainability in the EDB member economies and proposed the key task for the future, which is to create conditions to stimulate investment in high added-value production.
"Improved labour productivity should become the only factor for increases in households' real income. The most vulnerable population groups should be supported with targeted social programmes. Income, which is not associated with improved labour productivity and which is formed through relative price advantages from trade in foreign markets, especially in energy carriers, should be used to accumulate national savings and finance core infrastructure and structural reform, including targeted support for the poorest population groups," Dmitry Pankin concluded. At Interactive Dialogue 3 “Fostering sustainable economic growth, transformation and promoting sustainable consumption and production,” the head of EDB stated that, "the necessary condition to achieve sustainable economic growth in the countries and their all-round cooperation is the harmonious development of trans-boundary infrastructure, the power sector, and the capacity of industrial centres. These are the areas, which should be priorities for investments by development institutions."In the framework of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Dmitry Pankin met with Li Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). At the meeting the parties agreed that efforts needed to be pooled to fulfil the sustainable development goals in the Bank's member states. In particular, they discussed collaboration in industrialisation, industrial cooperation and infrastructure projects, as well as in investment projects and research.
Additional Information
Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The charter capital of EDB exceeds US $1.5 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
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