WE, MINISTERS OF OECD COUNTRIES¹, gathered at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on 4-5 June 2008 in Paris, recall that successful poverty reduction requires mutually supportive policies across a wide range of economic, social and environmental issues as stated in the OECD Ministerial statement in 2002. This is the basis for pursuing Policy Coherence for Development (PCD).

WE NOTE with satisfaction the improved organisational mechanisms to promote coherence that have been put in place at the OECD and at country level, reflected inter alia in the OECD/DAC peer reviews as progress towards political commitment, better co-ordination, enhanced analytical capacity and monitoring of results.

WE ALSO NOTE that globalisation has increased the economic inter-dependence among countries as well as between our development policies, and other areas of public policy.

Against this background:

WE REAFFIRM our strong commitment to PCD and stress its importance in achieving the internationally-agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration (MDGs)²;

WE RESOLVE to continue our efforts to ensure that development concerns are taken into account across relevant policies inter alia through improved impact analyses and better policy co-ordination both at country level and within the OECD, taking into account in particular the impact on the international development objectives of our environmental, agricultural, fisheries, economic and financial policies, as well as our policies in the areas of trade, migration, security, energy, science and technology;

WE ENCOURAGE the OECD with its unique multidisciplinary expertise to continue to enhance understanding of the development dimensions of our policies and their impacts on poverty reduction, and to continue to develop best practices and guidance on PCD promotion and improved methods of assessment of results achieved. In particular, we invite the committees involved to identify interlinkages across policy sectors and present cases of common benefits or trade-offs for PCD;

WE PLEDGE to strengthen dialogue between OECD countries and partner countries in sharing experience on the effects of our policies on development as well as on the increased relevance of PCD in developing countries' policies in the spirit of mutual partnership as agreed during the Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey;

WE AGREE on the necessity of greater coherence and better co-ordination between the various international arrangements and institutions in order to help ensure that the benefits of globalisation are realised and broadly shared and to cope with the challenges it brings and maximise its benefits;

WE EXPRESS our commitment to work for greater public awareness of development and human security dimensions and strengthen the dialogue with civil society organisations for increased public support for PCD;

WE AGREE that concerted actions in both the quantity and quality of aid are required in order to help achieve the MDGs by 2015. Most OECD Members and the European Union have already set targets to increase their Official Development Assistance by 2010. PCD can significantly increase the impact of development resources contributing to the achievement of MDGs. While policies designed in a development-friendly manner enhance the impact of aid efforts, well targeted aid to key economic sectors helps create an enabling environment for growth;

WE REAFFIRM our endorsement of the principles set out in the 2005 Paris Declaration³. We will aim to strengthen and broaden the shared commitment for reform of aid delivery and management and for improved aid effectiveness and development results on every opportunity and resolve to make the 3^rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra on 2 to 4 September 2008 a milestone in this endeavour.