WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah will travel to Mexico City from April 15-16 to lead the U.S. delegation for the first High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC).

Shah will speak at the opening plenary session highlighting progress since the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Busan, Korea in 2011. Shah is expected to discuss USAID’s new model for development to help eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, which combines policy reforms with private sector and donor investments to harness the ingenuity of innovators and entrepreneurs. He will also host bilateral meetings with several development ministers in attendance.

During the visit, Shah and Juan Manuel Valle Pereña, the head of Mexico’s International Development Cooperation Agency (AMEXCID), will announce a trilateral partnership to support El Salvador’s cacao industry and rural farmers as a result of the coffee rust outbreak. Shah will also participate in an event with Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo to highlight the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in Mexico and globally. He will discuss the recent launch of the U.S. Global Development Lab and recognize new Mexican awardees of USAID’s Innovation Fund for the Americas.

For more information about Shah’s trip to Mexico City, please contact USAIDPressOfficers@usaid.gov; and for more information on the first High-Level Meeting of the GPEDC, please visit: http://effectivecooperation.org/hlm2014/.