Release number IFAD/49/06

Rome, 18 December 2006  – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has approved a US$200,000 grant to support the activities of the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for the improvement of technical and economic cooperation among G77 countries.

The grant will provide additional resources to the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF) to support its projects in the areas of agriculture and natural resources management. These projects will provide innovative pro-poor research and capacity building, and will facilitate trade and the exchange of information across the borders of developing countries.

IFAD President Lennart Båge and Ambassador Dumisani S. Kumalo, Permanent Representative of South Africa at the United Nations and the Chairman of the Group of 77, attended a signing ceremony for the grant agreement in New York on 9 November. The grant agreement was countersigned this week by Eduardo Praselj, Chairman of the PGTF.

''This grant is further testimony of the common objective shared by IFAD and the G77 to fight extreme poverty by reinforcing not just South-South cooperation but also the solidarity between developing countries,'' said Båge.

The Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund was established by the United Nations to support technical and economic cooperation of critical importance to developing countries members of the G77.

Among its many G77-related projects, IFAD supports a network of 15 international research centres that promote sustainable agriculture for food security within a South-South collaboration framework.

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 196 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.6 billion. IFAD has invested more than US$3.1 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help nearly 89 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.5 billion in 732 programmes and projects that have helped more than 300 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Governments and other financing sources in the recipient countries, including project participants, have contributed US$9.0 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.1 billion in cofinancing.