Finland Supports Partner Countries' Participation in Busan High Level Forum

Finland’s development partner countries will be able to participate in the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, thanks in part to support from Finland for trips to Korea. Finland is providing €100 000 for the trips. Funds are channelled through the Asian Development Bank.

Partner countries’ participation in the Busan HLF4 Forum should help ensure that aid effectiveness reflects the countries’ real needs. After participating in BUSAN HLF4, Finland’s partner countries should also be better able to take charge of improving aid effectiveness in their countries.

From November 29 to December 1, participants in the BUSAN HLF4 will hold dialogues on aid effectiveness, evaluate the progress of the Paris Declaration, and make decisions on continuing the international work on aid effectiveness.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of 2005 set goals for improving the effectiveness of development aid. Effectiveness would be increased through better planning and implementation of development work, to obtain the best results possible on the ground. A survey of how well the goals had been reached was presented and discussed in the ACCRA HLF3 in 2008.

Ownership and participation are necessary for promoting aid effectiveness on the ground. Partner countries themselves should take charge of their own development. In the preparations for BUSAN HLF4, Finland emphasized that future discussions on aid effectiveness should concentrate more and more on the ground level and on partner countries being in charge of improving the impacts and effectiveness of aid.