Austria supports Albania through Delivering as One UN

TIRANA, Sep 16 – Austria is supporting UN reform by contributing 250,000 Euros to the One UN Coherence Fund in Albania based on an agreement signed Tuesday.
The One UN Coherence Fund is designed to enhance the efficiency of delivery by the United Nations system in Albania by streamlining, simplifying and increasing the harmonization and predictability of resource flows.
The Fund will finance top strategic priorities of the One UN Programme, as determined jointly by the Government, the UN Resident Coordinator and participating UN Agencies.
“The Austrian support is a welcome contribution to national priorities,” said Albana Vokshi of the Albanian government. “The One UN initiative is in line with the Government’s efforts to harmonize external assistance, and the Coherence Fund allows the Government to direct funding to strategic programme areas. We can consider it as a success story and expect other donors to join soon.”
The Austrian Development Cooperation pursues its goals of reducing global poverty, ensuring peace and human security and preserving the environment in an international framework.
The policies and programme parameters are agreed on with the European Union and in international committees. Two policy pillars of bilateral and multilateral development cooperation are the Millennium Development Goals and the Paris Declaration.
“Austria supports Albania’s alignment with the European Union, and the Government programmes that accompany it,” said Austrian Ambassador to Albania Klaus Derkowitsch. “It is also in Austria’s interests to support increased coherence and efficiency of the United Nations development system.”
“Success of the One UN Programme depends in part on support from international partners, including contributions to the One UN Coherence Fund,” said UN Resident Coordinator in Albania Gulden Turkoz-Cosslett. “In this way we are able to deliver strategic programmes that will make a difference in people’s lives.”
The One UN Programme’s objective is to better support Albania in achieving its goals as expressed in the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, the national priorities expressed in the National Strategy for Development and Integration and the Integrated Planning System. The One UN Programme is coordinated with the programmes of other international partners, in line with the Paris Declaration principles of aid effectiveness. Delivering as One UN brings UN agencies together – with one programme, one budget, one leader and one UN House.