On the 24th of September 2009 the Netherlands and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly organized a High-level Panel Discussion on The Financial and Economic Crisis and the Implications for Balanced and Sustainable Development. The event addressed the impact of the economic crisis and climate change on human development as well as propose policy responses. Recognizing that these crises disproportionately affect the poor, the event highlighted the need for governments to live up to their aid commitments and to reach a deal at December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen that benefits the poorest countries.

The Prime Minisiter of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, was part of a panel consisting of Helen Clark, Administrator UNDP; Oldemiro Marques Balói, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique; Abbie Marambika Shaba, Minister of Development Planning and Cooperation of Malawi, and Nancy Birdsall, President of the Center for Global Development.

Bert Koenders, Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands moderated the event.

Read the Speech by H.E. Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

Click to see Short Video of today's Side Event



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