Brussels, 16/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - A brand-new scientific consultative council for EU development policy came into being on Wednesday 15 February. This council, which is made up of eight international experts, will be tasked with carrying out high-tech research and studying key issues of the development policy of the EU.
The scientific council, which was created on the initiative of European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, is a further stage in modernising the EU development policy, with a view to fighting poverty. “The council will help us to link research to the definition and implementation of concrete policies in a much more effective way”, said the commissioner.
As part of the programme for change (October 2011), Piebalgs has decided to review the priorities for the aid provided by the EU to the developing countries, in order to optimise the impact in terms of the reduction of poverty. In this way, the researchers will focus on a broad range of issues of top importance, such as: - how to provide sustainable energy for all by 2030; - how to guarantee food security in the world and support agricultural production in the countries of the Sahel and the Horn of Africa; - how to improve resistance against external shocks in these fragile regions. (SD/transl.fl)