US and UK join up on global development

25 May 2011

Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama today made a joint commitment to changing the lives of the 1.2 billion poor people in the world and accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

During wide ranging talks they agreed to work together to bring peace and stability to fragile states such as Sudan and Afghanistan. They also agreed to put mechanisms in place to ensure international aid is spent more effectively and accountably.

Over the next five years the UK and US will work together to:

• prevent stunting and child mortality in 17 million undernourished children, by for example, supplying vitamin supplements through schools
• generate $2.8 billion agricultural GDP through research and development activities. For example by supporting research into crops that can survive floods, droughts, rising temperatures and natural disasters
• leverage $70 million in private investment to improve market opportunities and links with smallholders, including through DFID’s new Private Sector Department
• save the lives of at least 50,000 women in pregnancy and childbirth, by training more midwives in developing countries, for example get more than 5 million girls into primary and secondary school, by for example building schools and training teachers in areas that lack education institutions
• help 18 million women to access financial services, by providing micro-loans and other financial support, so they can start up small businesses
  do more to prevent violence towards women in at least 15 countries, by for example supporting the creation of a UN Women’s agency

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said:

"Combating poverty, disaster and conflict is not just morally right, it is firmly in our national interests. It is also an expression of the fundamental values we share. The UK and US will target investment where it can do the most good and are committed to strengthening our partnership to deliver the best results for the poorest people."

The two Governments will also:

• work together in fragile states such as Sudan and Afghanistan to build peace and stability, by for example strengthening local policing and judiciary
• be even more open, accountable and transparent, putting in place mechanisms such as the UK Aid Transparency Guarantee and the US’s Foreign Assistance Dashboard
• Work to strengthen GAVI so that it can save more lives including by providing underused vaccines which could prevent four million childhood deaths by 2015
• continue to call for a global climate deal that limits the increase in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius
• increase the incomes of the 1.2 billion of the world’s poorest people who depend on forests for their livelihoods through our partnership with REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation)

Read more in the joint fact sheet