Inter Press Service - August 27, 2004
Stefania Bianchi

The Netherlands which currently holds EU presidency is sending representatives from these new member states to visit development projects in Uganda and Vietnam.

Members of parliament, civil servants and key figures from civil society will visit the two countries Aug. 28 to Sep. 6 to gain experience of issues such as reproductive health and rights, and the fight against HIV/AIDS. The delegates will visit development projects and meet officials and independent workers.

"This visit is a perfect opportunity for the member states to become acquainted with development cooperation and to develop in their new role as donor," Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch minister for development cooperation who initiated the project said in a statement. "After all, many of these countries have had only a few years to switch from being a recipient to a donor."

The last new member states to receive net aid were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These countries have now become donors of sorts.

The Dutch government hopes that "the participants will develop a clearer picture of the need for development efforts and that they will come back with a balanced view on what development cooperation, and more specifically the Cairo plan of action, the broadly agreed international agenda on reproductive health means in practice," spokesperson for the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs Esther van Damme told IPS.

The Dutch presidency "hopes to be able to support them in generating public and political awareness, defining their policies and further developing institutional capacity," she said.

The visit is being supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which backs reproductive health programmes, and the World Population Foundation (WPF), a Dutch non-governmental organisaton (NGO) that promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights.

European Commission spokesperson for development Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe told IPS earlier that the new states had accepted the EU commitment to development.

"We will not only welcome ten new member states of the EU but also welcome ten new members of the international donor community," he had said.

The Netherlands insists that contributions from the new member states (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) are important as the international community attempts to meet the United Nations millennium development goals (MDGs).

"The international community has agreed to halve the number of people who live on less than a dollar a day by 2015," van Ardenne said. "It will take a huge effort to achieve this and the other millennium development goals. So a contribution from the new member states would be more than welcome."

Some 60 billion dollars in development cooperation aid is given out each year. Of this the EU provides 36 billion dollars, making it the largest donor.

But many development agencies and officials remain concerned about the effects of an enlarged EU on external aid.

"Current levels of ODA in accession countries are extremely low at between 0.01 and 0.13 percent of GNI (gross national income), and there is little pressure being exerted on accession countries by the EU to raise these levels," says a report by CONCORD, a Brussels-based network of some 2,000 European development agencies.

Aid agencies say assistance to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries should be increased in proportion to the GNI of the new member states. Just three of the ten accession countries -- Estonia, Malta and Poland -- have listed poverty reduction as an objective for ODA.

+-Dutch Presidency (www.eu2004.nl)

+-EU (www.europa.eu.int)

+-United Nations Population Fund (www.unpf.org)

+-World Population Foundation (www.wpf.org)

040827
IP040818

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .