Events
EU Policy seminar: Community or Bilateral Development Cooperation 21 & 22 October, 2008
On 21 and 22 October, the Clingendael European Studies Programme, in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised a high-level policy seminar on EU Development Cooperation. This was the fourth seminar in a series of seminars during which topics that are high on the EU agenda are discussed among academics and policy makers. In preparation of the seminar, a position paper was written by Louise van Schaik and Nicole Maes, to introduce the issues addressed during the seminar.
The participants were welcomed at a pre-conference diner by Pieter-Jan Kleiweg de Zwaan, Head of Unit for External Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Prof. Jaap W. de Zwaan, Director of the Clingendael Institute.
The seminar provided an excellent opportunity to informally discuss strategic questions with regard to EU development cooperation policy related to its place in the overall framework of EU external relations. The approximately 35 participants in the seminar included senior officials from the Netherlands, the European Commission, and mainly the new EU member states, in addition to some EU independent researchers. The meeting was chaired by former Member of Parliament and present Director of Dutch development organisation Cordaid, Dr. Godelieve van Heteren.
Specific sessions were devoted to three topics. First of all the Code of Conduct on complementarity and division of labour between EU donors was discussed. After an introduction by Maarten Brouwer, Director for Aid Effectiveness and Quality of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, initial comments were given by Paul Engel from the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and Annette Windmeiser from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Seminar participants discussed why a division of labour is needed and how it could work more effectively in practice. Also the role of the new EU member states in the implementation of the Code of Conduct was addressed.
The second session focused on financing for development, including the potential for innovative mechanisms. This session was introduced by Maciej Popowski, Director at the European Commission’ DG Development. Comments were given by Tony Addison, Professor of Development Studies at Manchester University and Marija Adanja, Head of Slovenia’s International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance Department. The discussion focused on the EU’s preparations for the Doha Conference on Financing for Development (November 2008) and the general challenge of increasing and sustaining levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA). With regard to innovative mechanisms, specific attention was devoted to the issue of financing climate change activities in developing countries.
The third session focused on the advantages and disadvantages of bilateral, European and other forms of multilateral development cooperation. Koos Richelle, Director-General of EuropeAid, gave an excellent presentation on the advantages of EC development cooperation and importance of EU donor coordination. Comments were give by Jakub Karfik, Director-General for bilateral relations and Development Cooperation of the Czech Republic and Lars Engberg-Pedersen, Project Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
Central to the discussion was the challenge of communicating development cooperation to the public. The perspective of the partner countries was also explicitly incorporated during relevant discussions.
