Media release

Financial assistance is only a small part of EU support for developing countries

13 March 2015

On 12 March in Brussels the Latvian Foreign Ministry’s Parliamentary State Secretary Ms Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica took part in the Informal Meeting of the European Union Development Ministers. The Ministers discussed participation of the EU in the United Nations intergovernmental negotiations on the new post-2015 development goals as well as their implementation and financing. Seeking agreement on the EU position regarding the financing of the new goals is one of the priorities of the Latvian Presidency.

As the participants exchanged views on support from the EU, the largest aid donor for developing countries towards the attainment of those goals, Ms Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica emphasised that direct assistance is only a small part of EU contribution to fostering growth in those countries. Already now, the EU has a market which is the most open towards developing countries and provides its expertise in technologies and innovative solutions, thereby facilitating economic growth.

Taking into account the fact that the new goals in the environmental, economic and social area will concern all countries across the globe, the Member States emphasised that a number of reforms should also be undertaken at the EU level to ensure that the goals are achieved.

As 2015 is the deadline for the UN Millennium Development Goals, this year the UN Member States should agree upon new sustainable development goals, which will be approved at the UN Summit in September. To agree about the financing and implementation of the new goals, preparations are also underway for the third International Conference on Financing for Development scheduled to take place in July this year, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both processes are also closely related to preparations for the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in December, in Paris.

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Jānis Bērziņš
Spokesperson