VILNIUS HOSTS A MEETING ON FUTURE PRIORITIES OF THE EU'S DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
On 24 January in Vilnius, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Finnish Foreign Vice-Ministers are holding a meeting on development cooperation issues.
Officials from the three Baltic States and Finland are discussing European Union’s development cooperation perspectives and new financial aid measures for developing countries that will be applied after 2013.The European Commission will submit formal proposals regarding the EU’s financial perspectives (2014-2020) for development cooperation during the first half of this year.
At the meeting, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius stressed that in the future the EU would continue to aim at expanding the space of stability and peace in the neighbourhood, therefore, it was important to allot substantial funding for Europe’s neighbouring countries. Support for democracy and human rights will remain among the priority areas of the EU’s development cooperation also after 2013.
Meanwhile, the future cooperation with emerging economies and the EU’s strategic partners should be carried out not under development aid programmes, but under the new partnership programmes.
When speaking about the implementation of the Lithuanian Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme, the Vice-Minister invited Estonia, Latvia and Finland to cooperate more closely in the recipient countries.
Lithuania has gained experience of delegated cooperation in Belarus with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). In 2011, the European Commission will evaluate the conformity of Lithuania’s development cooperation and financial procedures with the requirements for the delegation of the funds managed by the European Commission.
Informal consultations of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia on the issues of development cooperation have been held regularly since 2008. This year, Finland has been also invited to participate for the first time.
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