Development Cooperation with Middle-Income Countries

A/RES/76/215View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 22c Development cooperation with middle-income countries, published in 2021.

What other versions does this mandate have?

10 versions · 2009–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/149

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/149	Development cooperation with middle-income countries	4,713	72%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/162	Development cooperation with middle-income countries	4,472	76%Compare
2022	A/RES/76/215	Development cooperation with middle-income countries	3,840	78%Compare
2020	A/RES/74/231	Development cooperation with middle-income countries	3,154	61%Compare
2018	A/RES/72/230	Development cooperation with middle-income countries	2,748	58%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

9 reports · 2009–2025

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2025	A/80/418	Development cooperation with middle-income countries report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/78/162
2023	A/78/224	Development cooperation with middle-income countries report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/215
2021	A/76/375	Development cooperation with middle-income countries report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/74/231
2019	A/74/269	Development cooperation with middle-income countries report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/72/230
2017	A/72/329	Development cooperation with middle-income countries report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/70/215

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Development Assistance Economic Cooperation Among Developing Countries Economic Growth Middle-Income Countries South-South Relations Technical Cooperation

What’s in this document?

25 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;⁶

⁶A/76/375 and A/76/375/Corr.1.

Acknowledges the efforts made and successes achieved by many middle-income countries in eradicating poverty and achieving the internationally agreed development goals, as well as their significant contribution to global and regional development and economic stability;

Also acknowledges that identifying structural gaps can improve the understanding of development needs of developing countries, including middle-income countries;

Underlines that, for many middle-income countries, official development assistance, including financing on concessional terms from different multilateral financial institutions, remains important;

Also underlines the need for sustained efforts towards achieving debt sustainability in middle-income countries in order to avoid a debt crisis, and the importance of debt restructurings being timely, orderly, effective, fair and negotiated in good faith;

Recognizes that, with 62 per cent of the world’s poor population concentrated in middle-income countries, development cooperation, policy dialogue and partnerships with those countries can contribute to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals and targets;

Welcomes the solidarity of middle-income countries with other developing countries, in particular the financial, technical, technology transfer on mutually agreed terms and capacity-building support being provided by middle-income countries, particularly to the least developed countries, through South-South and triangular cooperation, while stressing that South-South cooperation is a complement to, and not a substitute for, North-South cooperation, and in this regard calls upon the United Nations development system to continue its ongoing efforts to mainstream support to South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation;

Also welcomes the outcome document of the second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, held in Buenos Aires from 20 to 22 March 2019,⁷ and notes decisions 20/1 and 20/2 adopted by the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation at its twentieth session, held from 1 to 4 June 2021;⁸

⁷Resolution 73/291, annex.

⁸Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-sixth Session, Supplement No. 39 (A/76/39), chap. I.

Recalls that the creation, development and diffusion of new innovations and technologies and associated know-how, including the transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms, are powerful drivers of economic growth and sustainable development;

Requests the United Nations development system to ensure that it addresses the diverse development needs of middle-income countries in a coordinated manner through, inter alia, an accurate assessment of the national priorities and needs of these countries, taking into account the use of variables that go beyond per capita income criteria;

Calls upon the United Nations development system, in line with its resolutions 71/243 and 75/233, to continue to support developing countries in their efforts to achieve the internationally agreed development goals and their development objectives, requests the development system to address, within existing resources and mandates, the special challenges facing the most vulnerable countries, as well as the specific challenges facing middle-income countries, in line with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development⁹ and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,¹⁰ and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to present, as part of his report on the implementation of the present resolution, an assessment of the outcomes of existing strategies within the United Nations development system related to middle-income countries;

⁹Resolution 69/313, annex.

¹⁰Resolution 70/1.

Reiterates the request to the United Nations development system to continue to develop its support to middle-income countries facing specific challenges in all their diversity, and recognizes that a gradual shift from a traditional model of direct support and service provision towards a greater emphasis on integrated high-quality policy advice, strengthening institutions, capacity development and support for the leveraging of partnerships and financing is needed, invites the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, to develop a joint framework of collaboration with multilateral development banks to improve synergies at the regional and country levels, including specific attention to middle-income countries, as set out in the Secretary-General’s road map for financing the 2030 Agenda, 2019–2021;

Invites the President of the General Assembly to convene a meeting during the seventy-seventh session of the Assembly, within existing resources and in a format decided by the President, to discuss the gaps and challenges of middle-income countries in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, with a focus on the environmental dimension of sustainable development, and requests the Secretary-General to consider these discussions in the drafting of his report on the implementation of the present resolution;

Recognizes the importance of the role of the private sector, as well as of the role of public-private partnerships, in meeting the challenges of sustainable development for middle-income countries and other developing countries;

Encourages Member States to advance innovative pathways to achieve sustainable consumption and production, in line with United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 4/1 of 15 March 2019;¹¹

¹¹UNEP/EA.4/Res.1.

Welcomes the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, which includes the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, the inter-agency task team on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals and the operationalization of the online platform;

Recognizes the great importance of providing trade-related capacity-building for developing countries, including African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, small island developing States, countries in conflict and post-conflict situations and middle-income countries, including for the promotion of regional economic integration and interconnectivity;

Acknowledges that good governance and the rule of law at the national and international levels are essential for sustained economic growth, sustainable development and the eradication of poverty and hunger;

Notes with concern that access to concessional finance is reduced as countries’ incomes grow, and that countries may not be able to access sufficient affordable financing from other sources to meet their needs, encourages shareholders in multilateral development banks to develop graduation policies that are sequenced, phased and gradual, and encourages multilateral development banks to explore ways to ensure that their assistance best addresses the opportunities and challenges presented by the diverse circumstances of middle-income countries;

Recognizes that Governments will have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review at the national, regional and global levels in relation to the progress made in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and targets and that quality, accessible, timely and reliable disaggregated data, including through strengthened capacity in improving access to data at the national and local levels, will be needed to help with the measurement of progress and to ensure that no one is left behind, and in this regard reiterates the commitment to intensifying efforts to strengthen statistical capacities in developing countries, including middle-income countries;

Welcomes progress by middle-income countries in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 and in reporting through the Sendai Framework monitor, and encourages the United Nations system to continue to support middle-income countries to develop national and local disaster risk reduction strategies;

Reaffirms the commitment at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind and commit to taking more tangible steps to support people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries and to reach the furthest behind first;

Recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed middle-income countries, including those moving into higher income, at risk of losing many of their hard-won gains in development and that more needs to be done for a sustainable recovery with regard to resource mobilization efforts, poverty eradication, food security, universal health coverage, strengthening health systems, pandemic response and preparedness, returning children to school, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the promotion of decent jobs and social protection, achieving debt sustainability, the reduction of inequalities, closing digital divides and enhancing North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation, and in this regard calls upon the Secretary-General to conduct a mapping exercise that will provide a detailed overview of the current support available to middle-income countries, including relevant indexes, frameworks, strategies and tools, within existing resources, in order to consider developing a comprehensive system-wide response plan, where appropriate, aimed at better addressing the multidimensional nature of sustainable development and facilitating sustainable development cooperation and coordinated and inclusive support to middle-income countries based on their specific challenges and diverse needs, and looks forward to the finalization of the ongoing work on the multidimensional vulnerability index;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session, within existing resources, an action-oriented report on the implementation of the present resolution, including a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the particular challenges faced by middle-income countries, along with a concrete set of recommendations to promote and enhance their efforts in the achievement of the environmental dimension of sustainable development, which shall also include the results of the mapping exercise on the current support available to middle-income countries, while recognizing that the economic dimension was covered in the report submitted at the seventy-sixth session and that the particular challenges in the social dimension will require further analysis in a subsequent report;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-eighth session, under the item entitled “Globalization and interdependence”, the sub-item entitled “Development cooperation with middle-income countries”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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