Brussels, 16/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - The restoration of full development cooperation with Madagascar is the only formal decision expected to be made by the Foreign Affairs/Development Council in Brussels on Monday 19 May, chaired by EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.
The meeting will be dominated by exchanges of views and the adoption of conclusions.
The ministers will discuss preparations for development aid post-2015, when the Millennium Development Goals come to an end. They will discuss the scale of EU official development aid (ODA) using the 2013 annual report and preliminary figures released by the OECD on 10 April which show that the trend of falling levels of ODA reversed last year (see EUROPE 11057). The EU spent 0.47% of its gross national income on ODA in 2013, worth €56.5 billion, still far below the EU target of 0.7% for 2015, European Development Year.
The situation in Central African Republic and South Sudan, a couple of very poor countries whose development is being hampered by civil war, will be discussed over lunch.
Conclusions will be adopted on a human rights-based approach to cooperation development; introduction of a sexual equality action plan and giving women a bigger role in developing countries; and the EU's position for the conference of developing island countries in September.
The Council will be addressed by EU Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, newly returned from Mali, on the content and backdrop to the European Commission's report on boosting the private sector's role in developing countries as a lever for inclusive growth (see EUROPE 11079). (AN)