| Cooperation between the Bank and the UN has been in place since the founding of the two organizations (1944 and 1945) and focuses on economic and social areas of mutual concern such as reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and investing in people. In addition to a shared agenda, the Bank and the UN have almost the same membership. Only a handful of UN member countries, including Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, are not Bank members.
The Bank's formal relationship with the United Nations is defined by a 1947 agreement which recognizes the Bank as an independent specialized agency of the UN as well as a member and observer in many UN bodies. A recent review of the nature of collaboration activities between the United Nations and Bretton Woods Institutions confirms that a multifaceted, extensive and growing partnership exists between them.
The Bank also has links with the UN at the political and policy-making level in the work of the General Assembly and its committees, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), whose members recently participated in an exchange of dialogue on development issues with the Bank's Executive Directors, and such bodies as the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination. The broad range of positive cooperation at the global and country levels includes the following:
- At the executive level, the Bank President and the Secretary-General engage in an on-going dialogue on substantive issues such as poverty eradication, capacity building in Africa, humanitarian and post-conflict issues, human rights and financing of development. Additionally, President Wolfensohn actively participates in a range of UN fora, such as the ECOSOC Substantive Session policy dialogue, and maintains an on-going dialogue with heads of UN Programs, Specialized Agencies and Commissions, such as the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- At the political level, as represented by member states, the Bank has observer status in several UN bodies including, the General Assembly and its Second and Third Committees and ECOSOC, which address issues that bear directly on the work of the Bank, e.g. population, poverty, HIV/AIDS, gender issues and women and development, governance and civil society, communications, and the environment. In addition, the Bank maintains an active dialogue with individual member states and political groups such as the G-77 and the European Union.
At the operational level, the Bank, a specialized UN agency, works with the United Nations Development Programme and other UN Funds and Programs in its project work through policy coordination, project implementation, cofinancing and aid coordination. For example, the Bank is one of six co-sponsors of the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) and one of the world's biggest contributors to the fight against HIV/AIDS. And the Bank's partnership with the World Food Program (WFP) links their food-for-work community infrastructure programs to Bank follow-up investments. In addition, the Bank is an integral part of the United Nations global conference process. The Bank helps to prepare for and participates in virtually all of the UN global conferences and, as an active member of the task forces to follow-up on United Nations conferences, to implement goals at the country level.
For more information on the United Nations, see UN System of Organizations
Last updated: June 30, 2003
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