Minister Väyrynen does not approve the government budget session decision on development cooperation appropriations

Press release 84/2008
11 March, 2008

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen does not approve the government budget session decision on appropriations for development cooperation. During the government budget session, Väyrynen announced that he intends at next week’s Government discussion to propose increases in appropriations so that they correspond to the commitment, made at the European Council in 2005, to reach the share of 0.51 per cent of the gross national income (GNI) in 2010 and 0.7 per cent of the GNI in 2015.

The amount proposed by the Ministry of Finance for 2010 corresponds to only 0.48 per cent of the GNI. In order to be able to meet the commitment given, the spending limits must be increased by about 50 million euros. Correspondingly, an increase of about 65 million euros is needed for 2011 so that, in line with the commitment, the share of 0.55 per cent of GNI would be realised.

Additional information: Ossi Martikainen, Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, mobile tel. +358 40 592 6769