On Monday, 25 November, European ministers for development will contribute to the ongoing reflection on the future financial architecture for development and neighbourhood by way of a debate on the Wise Persons’ report, published in October, on sustainable investments for sustainable development (http://bit.ly/341bbhT ).
This EU Foreign Affairs Council in its ‘Development’ format will be the latest to be chaired by High Representative of the Union Federica Mogherini.
It will begin with an announcement about the Global Refugee Forum, which will take place in Geneva on 17 and 18 December in order to follow up on the Global Compact on Refugees, adopted by the UN in December 2018. The EU Council will also be informed of the status of the ongoing negotiations on the post-2020 partnership agreement with ACP (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) countries linked to the EU by the Cotonou Agreement (see EUROPE 12344/14).
The meeting will end with a lunch devoted to an informal exchange of views on gender equality in education with the Ethiopian Minister of Education, Dr Tilaye Gete.
Future financial architecture for development. This open debate will take place with the chair of the Wise Persons Group, Thomas Wieser; the president of the EIB, Werner Hoyer; and the president of the EBRD, Suma Chakrabarti, in the wake of the debate that the finance ministers had held on 10 October. It will fuel the new debate that these ministers will have in early December with a view to adopting the Ecofin Council’s conclusions, as the Finnish presidency hopes.
The report recommends consolidating and streamlining development finance and climate activities in non-EU countries into a single entity, a European Climate and Sustainable Development Bank, in order to avoid overlaps. It presents three options for this purpose. “Development ministers and finance ministers do not necessarily have the same point of view”, a senior European official pointed out on Tuesday.
Support for countries in transition. Ministers will also discuss how the EU and its Member States could better work together to support the development of countries in transition, whether this transition is political or economic. The focus will be on Sudan (see EUROPE 12367/11) and Ethiopia (see EUROPE 12191/14).
“The aim is to encourage Member States to take on the issue”, indicated the same source on Tuesday.
The Council will adopt, without debate, a series of conclusions on humanitarian aid and international humanitarian law; the report on the implementation of the EU’s 2016–2020 gender equality action plan; and the fourth progress report on the nutrition action plan, which aims to reduce the number of children under five suffering from stunted growth by at least 10% (7 million children) by 2025.
As usual, no press conference is scheduled for the end of the proceedings. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)