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At the informal meeting of development cooperation ministers of the European Union in Ljubljana on 18–19 February, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Laimonas Talat-Kelpša,   discussed the most important issues of EU development cooperation policy — the fulfilment of the financial obligations of the EU Member States in the area of development cooperation and the operation of the policy coordination mechanisms adopted in the mutual agreements of the EU countries.  

“According to preliminary calculations, Lithuania allocated 0.1 percent of its gross national income to the needs of development cooperation last year. Therefore, there is substantial reason to believe that by 2010 we will achieve our aim of allocating 0.17 percent of GNI to the needs of development cooperation”, L.Talat-Kelpša asserted at the meeting.

According to the Undersecretary, since 2004, when Lithuania became a member of the EU and a country providing support, financing of development cooperation has grown more than twofold (from 0.04 to 0.1 percent) or as much as four times in absolute numbers (from 25 million to 96 million litas).

“As strange as it may sound, rapid growth of the country’s economy is quite a “headache” for development cooperation. Due to the rapid growth of the economy, the part of the GNI to be allocated for financing this policy is increasing. For instance, the 7.2 percent economic growth forecasted in Lithuania at the beginning of 2007 reached 8.7 percent at the end of the year. This means that after the recalculation of indices at the end of the year we see the obvious difference between the sums that have been planned and those that should really be allocated. I think other countries that have recently joined the EU are experiencing similar situations”,  the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said sharing the Lithuanian experience.

Undersecretary L.Talat-Kelpša also mentioned that last year the EU countries adopted the Code of Conduct on Division of Labour in Development Policy and thus undertook to cooperate more actively in implementing aid projects. He therefore invited other countries to support the activities of the European Humanities University in Lithuania.    

“We are grateful to our partners in the Baltic region and Northern and Central Europe for tangible aid in supporting the activities of the European Humanities University and urge other EU countries to join them”, L.Talat-Kelpša said.

Development cooperation policy is a new area of Lithuania’s foreign policy aimed at helping poor countries in transition. According to the provisions of the Lithuanian development cooperation policy adopted by the Government in 2006, priority countries include nations in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus region, Iraq, and Afghanistan.     

Lithuania has undertaken to increase financing for development cooperation to 0.17 percent of GNI by 2010. At today’s rate this would amount to around 200 million litas.