Brussels, 30/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The work of the Development Council, which meets on Thursday 31 May in Brussels, will be geared to two major themes: the improvement and effectiveness of development aid and conflict prevention as a development cooperation instrument. No formal decision is expected at this session, but the conclusions drawn by the Presidency from the debates on the various issues tackled should lay the foundations for effective implementation of objectives pursued by the new Union development strategy as set out in the declaration of general policy, adopted by the Commission and the Council last November.
A dinner on Wednesday evening, on the eve of the session, will allow ministers of the Fifteen to discuss with Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the World Health Organisation, with a view to preparing the special session of the UN Assembly General devoted to combating AIDS.
The session will be chaired by Ms Maj Inger Klingvall, Minister for international development cooperation at the Swedish Foreign Ministry. Poul Nielson, Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, will represent the European Commission.
The agenda of the session is as follows:
Effectiveness of the Community's development aid policy.
On the basis of a Presidency guidance document, the ministers will be invited to reflect on the following questions: How can the Commission's progress report serve the aim of eradicating poverty? How can the Council and Member States support the process for reform of external aid management currently underway at the Commission? How can planning, control and assessment of aid be improved in a realistic way? What are the results that could be included in the annual report on development aid?
More specifically, the Council will tackle the following points: a) Action programme for the implementation of development policy: the Council will note an updating document from the Commission centred on political issues, principles and working methods to be implemented; b) Court of Auditors report on Union's external aid: the Council will adopt conclusions; c) follow-up of Community development policy: the Council will adopt conclusions; d) sustainable development: with a view to the European Summit in Gothenburg (15-16 June), the Council will adopt a resolution in response to the Commission's communication concerning the integration of the environment into development cooperation policy; e) preparation of the world summit on sustainable development (Johannesburg, 2002); f) partnership between the Community and the United Nations in development cooperation and humanitarian aid: the Council will adopt a resolution; f) coherence between Union policies: the Dutch delegation will raise the question of coherence between the EU's fisheries policy and the fight against poverty in developing countries.
Conflict prevention and development.
The Council will discuss ways to best take into account the potential risk of armed conflict in development aid programmes and to improve coordination and cooperation between the Union and the other multilateral organisations, mainly financial.
More specifically, the Council: a) will adopt conclusions on the link between emergency aid, rehabilitation and long term development; b) will adopt conclusions on support to the electoral process and the observation of elections in developing countries; c) should adopt a common position on two regulations concerning anti-personnel mines.
In addition, the Council will informally deal with the following points: - co-development (at the request of France and Denmark); - ratification of the Cotonou Agreement (at the request of the Commission); - information technologies and communications in developing countries (at the request of the Commission).
During lunch, the Council is expected to hold an exchange of views on the results of the third United Nations conference on the least developed countries, recently hosted by the Union in Brussels.