BCCI's development activities also extended through partnerships with independent international organisations. One of the most significant was Global 2000, an initiative associated with former US President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter through The Carter Center, focusing on health, agriculture, food production and environmental improvement in developing countries.
BCCI President Agha Hasan Abedi developed a close working relationship with former US President Jimmy Carter and became one of the co-chairmen of Global 2000. BCCI provided substantial financial and logistical support for its programmes, while Global 2000 contributed technical expertise and worked with national governments and local institutions.
BCCI-supported projects operated in countries including China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia. Particular emphasis was placed on practical programmes capable of reaching large numbers of people, including disease prevention, rural health care, agriculture and training.
One of Global 2000's best-known programmes was its campaign against Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis), which began in the mid-1980s and involved extensive work across Africa and Asia. BCCI's international network helped provide financial and organisational support for programmes of this kind.
The partnership also extended to country-specific development initiatives. In Bangladesh, for example, Global 2000, the BCCI Foundation and the Government worked together on health and agricultural programmes. In China, BCCI-supported initiatives included training and educational projects intended to develop local capacity rather than provide only short-term assistance.
BCCI reportedly contributed around US$8 million to Global 2000 over several years. In a statement issued in January 1990, Jimmy Carter publicly acknowledged BCCI's financial support for Global 2000 programmes in countries including Ghana, China, Zambia, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The relationship reflected Abedi's wider view that BCCI's international presence could be used not only for banking, but also to support development initiatives in the countries where it operated. Global 2000 became one of the clearest examples of BCCI working with an external international organisation to combine finance, technical expertise and local implementation.
Abedi also promoted broader ideas for strengthening economic cooperation among developing countries, including proposals for new financial institutions capable of providing trade and short-term financing. These ideas are considered separately in the sections dealing with the Third World Foundation and Global South development.