The EU development ministers discuss post-2015 millennium development goals and EU development aid targets
Press Release 122/2013
24 May 2013
Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will attend the Development Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on 28 November. The main topics of the meeting will include the global development agenda beyond 2015 and the programming of EU development aid for 2014–2020.
2015 is the deadline for the implementation of the present Millennium Development Goals. The preparation of the global development agenda beyond 2015 is under way. Finland considers it important that, in the preparatory process, the EU acts in an integrated manner, supporting the steering role and leadership of the UN. At this stage, the EU must convey a clear message globally avoiding too much detail. The EU should listen to its partners – the least developed countries in particular – and remain open to different views. The Ministers will discuss the issue also over lunch, to be attended by the UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson. The Ministers and Deputy Secretary-General Eliasson will also exchange views on the situations in Afghanistan and Myanmar.
The planning of EU development aid for 2014–2020 is under way. The work is steered by the Union’s renewed development policy ‘Agenda for Change’, adopted in spring 2012. It underscores a rights-based approach to development, aid effectiveness, and support for inclusive green growth. Finland also considers it important that the EU honours its commitment to target the aid to the least developed countries and focus on a maximum of three sectors in each country. The Ministers will discuss how to put the agreed principles into practice when drawing up EU plans for the next programming period.
Furthermore, the Ministers will discuss EU progress in reaching the commitment to target 0.7 per cent of GDP to official development assistance by 2015, bolstering of food and nutrition security, and the role of local authorities in development aid.
Additional information: Milma Kettunen, Press Attaché for the Minister for International Development, tel. +358 40 522 9869, and Katja Ahlfors, First Secretary, Unit for General Development Policy and Planning, tel. +358 9 1605 6272