Delegates from 19 countries agreed here yesterday to set up an international fund to relieve poverty and improve education and health situation in developing countries.
The fund, described as "new international resources to fight against poverty, for development and in particular health and education," was unanimously endorsed at the board meeting of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions.
Over 50 delegates from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia attended the one-day meeting of IAESCSI, the non-governmental organization established in Mauritius in 1999.
"We have been looking for this fund for a long time, expecting it to play a major role in realizing the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal of eliminating poverty from a civil society perspective," said Bertrand Durufle, secretary general of the IAESCSI.
Proposed by Algeria, Brazil, Chile, France and Spain, the fund is expected to be raised through taxation on economic activities instead of budgetary deductions.
The organization will also set up a working group to analyze detailed fund resources and how to manage new resources implementation.
Final conclusions will be drawn at the IAESCSI General Assembly meeting held in Seoul next year.
"We will try to ensure that everybody makes equal contributions to this fund, no matter in what form, to improve the development for health and education," Durufle said.
Wang Zhongyu, president of the Chinese Economic and Social Council, was elected chairman of the IAESCSI.
He will visit the other countries that seek to join the organization.