20 June 2012: The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) and the Government of Brazil have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on providing technical assistance on sustainable urban development to Latin American countries. The collaboration will seek to increase national capacity to design, implement, manage and monitor sustainable urban development programmes that address the challenges of rapid urbanization.

Under the agreement, UN-HABITAT and the Government of Brazil will provide direct technical assistance to strengthen institutional capacity, and to develop and update knowledge sharing efforts on urban development.

Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Joan Clos, and Brazil’s Minister and Director of the Brazilian Agency for Cooperation, Marco Farani, signed the MOU at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). Clos said the agreement “further strengthens our commitment to sustainable urban development and to South-South cooperation.” [UN-HABITAT Press Release]