This Compact sets out how we will work together to strengthen international cooperation now, and for the challenges ahead - connecting efforts across partners and supporting country-led priorities to deliver shared progress. Practical commitments sit in the accompanying Annex.
Why this Compact matters
With only a few years left to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, progress is uneven and under strain. A system of international cooperation built for a different era is being tested by overlapping shocks and structural inequities in the global system. Recent crises have shown clearly that global cooperation must be able to withstand disruption and adapt quickly. Everyone should be able to live healthy, productive lives without being pushed backwards by each crisis.
Our world is more interconnected than ever. Prosperity, energy security, climate stability and nature, health security, resilient infrastructure, skills and opportunity, removal of barriers for women and girls and advancing inclusion and equalities across all groups, all depend on cooperation that works. Investing in global health, food security, energy infrastructure and resilience through country-led systems is not charity. It strengthens collective stability, speeds recovery and protects shared progress.
Today’s challenges demand broader coalitions and new ways of working that connect global ambition with country-led delivery. Countries and communities need to lead their own choices, with the international system backing their plans. Governments, businesses, multilateral organisations, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), philanthropies, technology, academia and civil society each bring distinct strengths. Working together effectively is essential for problem-solving, sustainable growth and resilience.
This Compact reflects a shared commitment to reset how we cooperate: to focus on policy alignment, practical delivery, stronger partnerships and faster progress, aligned with existing global commitments such as the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030, while staying resilient through crises and preparing for what comes next.
How we will work together
The Compact focuses on three areas where cooperation can make the greatest difference.
1. Financing for sustainable development and resilience
We will support inclusive growth and long-term resilience, guided by country priorities. We will:
Use the full range of finance: domestic resources, public budgets including Official Development Assistance (ODA), private investment and philanthropy, alongside policies that support entrepreneurship and sustainable private-sector growth, without creating unsustainable debt.
Back reforms that strengthen tax systems, public financial management and investment quality, and that tackle illicit financial flows, giving governments greater fiscal control and policy space.
Maintain the vital role of ODA, especially for poverty reduction, fragility, humanitarian response, health, climate, education, and tackling barriers to women and girls’ equal participation, while using it more strategically to unlock wider finance where risks are too high for private capital alone.
Support stronger domestic capital markets to mobilise local savings and reduce exposure to external shocks.
Work together to address debt pressures and reform the global financial system so it becomes more shock responsive.
In practice, this means working through partnerships that back country leadership, supporting finance minister-led cooperation on fiscal resilience, and ensuring finance strengthens sustainability rather than undermining it.
2. Knowledge, data, technology and innovation
Advances in technology, data and research can transform systems, prevent crises and improve outcomes, especially for the most vulnerable, if they are governed responsibly and benefits are shared. We will:
Promote the use of data, research and selected technologies for the public good, to address shared global challenges.
Support responsible digital and AI governance, with safeguards against bias, exclusion, misinformation and harm.
Strengthen cybersecurity, affordable internet access and data governance, including addressing the environmental footprint of digital systems.
Invest in local skills, institutions and innovation ecosystems so countries build their own capabilities and strengthen digital autonomy.
Our focus is practical cooperation: interoperable standards, responsible and secure data use and peer learning on emerging technologies, connecting innovation to country-led solutions.
3. Equitable, diversified partnerships that deliver
No single actor can meet today’s global challenges alone. Effective cooperation depends on strong, respectful partnerships that enable country and community leadership and connect efforts across the system. We will:
Build on what works by strengthening existing effective partnerships and forming new coalitions to address shared challenges.
Shift power so countries, communities and local actors lead, with partnerships supporting, not substituting for, local systems and leadership, and decision-making and resources closer to those best placed to deliver.
Share responsibility, reduce fragmentation and prioritise sustained delivery over one-off initiatives.
Remove barriers for women and girls, promote inclusion and equalities across all partnerships and uphold strong safeguarding standards.
Partnerships should be transparent, accountable, open to learning and grounded in mutual benefit, linking global commitments, finance and innovation to results at country level.
Our shared roles
Governments will align support with national and local priorities, strengthen public institutions, protect civic space and improve coordination.
Multilateral and international organisations will commit to deeper reforms and system coherence and better support joined-up delivery with partners at country level
The private sector and DFIs will invest responsibly, bring capital and innovation, and support jobs and skills.
Philanthropies will provide flexible, risk-tolerant funding to scale proven solutions and support learning and systems change.
Civil society and NGOs will bring local knowledge and trust, support accountability and amplify marginalised voices.
Technology and knowledge actors will support safe, inclusive digital transformation and share standards and expertise.
What happens next
Detailed commitments supporting the Compact will be set out in an evolving Annex. Participation does not require endorsement of every initiative. Signatories can support selected actions, propose new ones, and use the Annex to promote transparency, learning and accountability over time.
This Compact marks the start of a shared effort to build a more effective, inclusive and future-ready system of international cooperation, working through partnerships to connect global ambition with country-led results.