Finland promotes sustainable development: An initiative for the EU on transatlantic partnership for development; an offer to the African Union on cooperation for capacity building

Press release 30/2009
28 January, 2009

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen has made two initiatives that would help implement the goals of Finland’s Development Policy Programme through wide international cooperation. These initiatives aim at increasingly effective efforts to eradicate poverty by means of socially, economically and ecologically sustainable development.

In his letter sent to the Development Ministers of the EU Member States, Väyrynen presents an initiative for closer cooperation in development policy issues between the European Union and the United States. The objective is to establish a Transatlantic Partnership for Sustainable Development. The initiative will be discussed at the Informal Meeting of EU Development Ministers, to be held in Prague towards the end of this week.

The Finnish initiative aims at more effective collaboration between the EU and the USA for the eradication of poverty and for promoting sustainable development. In global negotiations on development, trade and the environment, the two partners would help the poorest developing countries to reach outcomes that would be in their best interests. This partnership would promote socially, economically and ecologically sustainable development throughout the world.

Minister Väyrynen says that the United States has long been interested in development policy cooperation with the EU. According to Väyrynen, American views have been close to the ideas expressed by the Nordic+ Group led by the Nordic countries. This became clear, for instance, during Väyrynen’s talks with representatives of USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington last summer.

“The plans of the new Administration in the United States match well with the ideas presented in the Finnish initiative,” says Väyrynen. “This is therefore a very good time to make such an initiative,” he stresses.

Minister Väyrynen has also presented an initiative to the African Union for the promotion of sustainable development. The proposal is based on talks held at the AU Headquarters late in 2008.

This initiative, too, aims at strengthening the position of the poorest developing countries in global negotiations on development, trade and the environment. Another objective is to strengthen the capacity of African countries for implementing the principles of sustainable development in their own development efforts.

The initiative presented to the AU is linked with the agreement concluded by Finland and Tanzania on the establishment of the Dar Es Salaam Institute for Sustainable Development. The purpose is to strengthen the capacity of Tanzania and other member nations of the East African Community to look after their own interests in international negotiations, and to promote sustainable development within the region of the Community. According to plans, cooperation with the AU will be implemented in close collaboration with the Institute.

Additional information: Director General Ritva Koukku-Ronde, Department for Development Policy, tel. +358 9 1605 6490, and Päivi Nevala, Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, tel. +358 9 1605 6171, mobile tel. +358 40 753 4375.