Minister Hautala to attend EU meeting of ministers for development in Poland
Press release 182/2011
13 July, 2011
Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will participate in the informal EU meeting of ministers for development in Sopot, Poland, on 14–15 July.
The Ministers will discuss the Commission Communication on the EU financial framework issued on 29 June, focusing particularly on EU’s future development aid architecture. For Finland, it is important that, even in the future, the share of EU external action funding will be ensured in a way that facilitates sufficient response to global challenges. At the same time, EU’s common commitment to raising the share of official development assistance to 0.7 per cent of GNI by 2015 must be borne in mind.
The second topic of discussion for the ministers will be the development contribution by the EU and its Member States in Central Asia and the Pacific region, including mutual division of labour and potential joint programming.
On the second day of the meeting, the ministers will discuss joint programming of development cooperation of the EU and its Member States. The objective of joint programming is to outline the areas of cooperation in which the EU and its Member States have the best opportunities to promote the development of each partner country. Finland supports EU’s strong role in strengthening the division of labour between the donors.
The last issue on the agenda of the development minister meeting will be making preparations for the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in Busan, South Korea, towards the end of 2011. In Busan, decisions should be made on what kind of structures should be established for continuing the work on aid effectiveness. According to Finland’s view, the Forum should produce new solutions on how to best support development results by means of development aid at a country level in the partner countries.
Additional information: Acting Adviser to the Minister Maria Kurikkala, tel. +358 400 735 991, or Inspector Laura Hassinen, tel. +358 9 1605 6458
