IFAD and Spain strengthen partnership to eradicate rural poverty

Rome, 19 February 2011 – Spain has established a new €300 million fund targeting rural poverty and food security, the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister announced today on the occasion of the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Governing Council.

Soraya Rodriguez, Secretary of State for International Cooperation said the Spanish Food Security Cofinancing Facility Trust Fund will consist of a €285.5 million loan from the Government of Spain combined with a grant of €14.5 million to be committed during the years 2011 and 2012. The loan maturity will be 45 years, including a grace period of five years, with funding to be aligned with the policies and practices of IFAD.

“Spain’s contribution will ensure immediate and reliable resources that will enhance IFAD’s ability to reduce rural poverty and create income opportunities for smallholder farmers,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD. The Trust Fund will provide additional resources especially for those countries in which there is demand in excess of available IFAD funding and where there is an urgent need for investment in the areas of agriculture and food security.

The financial arrangement between IFAD and Spain will be part of a more comprehensive strategic partnership framework and complements the six-year Partnership Agreement signed in November 2007.

In recent years, Spanish development cooperation has undergone rapid reforms. The country, which has long been a leader in development efforts in Latin America, expanded its geographic focus to other regions and has increased development funding in an unprecedented manner. Spain’s Master Plan for 2009-2012 explicitly calls for the establishment of strategic agreements with multilateral institutions in a variety of sectors.

Press release No.: IFAD/11/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 370 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 167 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).