WASHINGTON: The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has signed a memorandum of understanding for development cooperation with the International Labor Organization. The MoU was co-signed by KFAED’s Acting Director General Walid Al-Bahar and ILO’s Assistant Director-General for External and Corporate Relations, Laura Thompson, on the sidelines of the 2024 spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

KFAED said in a statement that the MoU aims at establishing a framework of technical cooperation and coordinating joint action in the realms of economic and social funding in developing countries, in addition to mutual coordination for expertise swaps. The MoU, with a five-year renewable mandate, focuses on cooperation in activities that meet the two sides’ objectives in the developing countries where they have a presence.

It is also designed to swap economic, financial, and commercial information and employ resources in joint interest realms, the statement said, adding that the cooperation would cover statistics, policies, enhancing potentials, youth economic empowerment, gender equality at work, and responding to crises, in addition to cooperation among states of the South. The two sides will hold regular consultations, according to the memo, to coordinate operations in the targeted countries. — KUNA