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Informal meeting of development Ministers in La Granja
The Minister for Development and Humanitarian Action Marie-Josée Jacobs took part in the informal meeting of European Union Ministers for Development, which took place in La Granja, Spain, on February 17th and 18th, 2010.
During this meeting, Ministers began to prepare the EU stance in view of the high level meeting on the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), which will take place in New York in September 2010. In order to hold the course and to actually reach the MDGs by 2015, the international community will have to increase its efforts, notably in the field of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Minister Marie-Josée Jacobs emphasised in this context the need for Member States of the European Union to fulfil their commitment, undertaken in 2005 during the Luxembourg Presidency, to bring their public development aid to 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) by 2015. As recalled by the OECD in a press release issued when the informal meeting was still ongoing in La Granja, Luxembourg is one of the few countries which have reached, even surpassed, the 0.7% goal set by the United Nations.
In La Granja, Ministers also examined the situation in Haiti following the earthquake of January 12th. The Head of the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Edmond Mulet, informed Ministers that it was most urgent to provide sanitation, shelters and plastic covers to ensure that more than one million homeless Haitians are not at the mercy of bad weather, while the rainy season and hurricanes are approaching. In view of the donors’ conference which will take place in New York on March 31st, Ministers encourage the EU Commission to work out a common European Union plan to assist the rebuilding and the development of Haiti in the medium and long run. Such a plan would ensure an effective division of labour beforehand, thus improving the efficiency of the European assistance. Concerning the coordination of assistance on the ground, the primary role of the United Nations was underlined.
The meeting also provided an opportunity for EU Ministers for Developments to have a substantial exchange of views on the MDGs, food security, climate change and assistance to Haiti with the new Administrator of the United States’ Agency for International Development (USAID), Dr. Rajiv Shah, thus giving new impetus to the transatlantic partnership in the field of development cooperation.
Useful links:
OECD Press release of 17 February 2010 on Official Development Assistance
http://www.oecd.org/document/37/0,3343,fr_2649_34447_44620069_1_1_1_1,00&&en-USS_01DBC.html
Spanish Presidency of the EU
http://www.eu2010.es/fr/documentosynoticias/noticias/feb18desarrollolagranja.html
(Press release by the Directorate for Developement Cooperation)