Tehran, October 18,  2006 - "UNDP is ready to initiate a dialogue with Tehran City Council and Municipality authorities to show alternative strategies and solutions to urban poverty alleviation and inequality reduction" said UN Resident Coordinator/ UNDP Resident Representative Knut Ostby.

He was speaking at a conference at Tehran City Council on Tuesday to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Senior officials and experts from the City Council, the Municipality, the Ministry of Labour, and UNDP discussed urban and urban periphery poverty, challenges and solutions, and areas of cooperation to address this issue at the forum and responded to questions posed by media representatives.

Mr. Ostby said he believed that the Tehran Municipality could have a direct role in helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals. But in order to bring in the strategic framework of the Municipality into the poverty reduction process, "substantial effort at reallocating resources towards achieving these goals and changing conventional and traditional procedures and practices is required." He stated that in the Iranian context, "although the country has registered a steadily improving economic outlook in the past years, the trend of economic growth is yet to be translated into pro-poor growth and sustainable human development. The degree of regional inequality and disparities, e.g. between Tehran and Sistan-Baluchistan provinces, is also significant… We are discussing with the authorities different modalities for a wider poverty alleviation programme through area-based development initiatives, and micro-credit". He emphasized the importance of "pro-poor urban management" and proposed an improved dialogue on urban poverty, on pro-poor urban management techniques and on sustainability issues confronting local councils and municipalities.

Other speakers from the City Council, Municipality and the Ministry of Labour discussed possible solutions to the various dimensions of poverty in the mega-city of Tehran, and expressed their interest in learning from successful poverty alleviation approaches that UNDP could share with them through its global network.

The UN General Assembly in resolution on 22 December 1992 declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. It invited intergovernmental organizations to support countries' efforts in devoting the day to presenting and promoting activities on the eradication of poverty and destitution, as appropriate in the national context.