Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the
Government-Donor Coordination Committee (GDCC)
held on
15 February 2006, 9:00 am at CDC

1.         H.E. Mr. Keat Chhon, Chairman of the Government-Donor Coordination Committee (GDCC) opened the meeting by welcoming all participants to the Sixth meeting of the GDCC. He informed the meeting that the main agenda consists of two items. First, a review and approval of the pledge sheet for the CG meeting. Second item is to review the proposed JMIs that will be endorsed at the CG meeting.

2.         On the first agenda item, he informed the meeting that the National Strategic Development Plan for 2006-2010 and the rolling three year Public Investment Program for 2006-2008 have been prepared and approved by the Cabinet. He said that at the last GDCC meeting he had asked H.E. Chhieng Yanara to redesign the pledge sheet in consultation with SNEC and the World Bank to improve the pledging process at the CG meeting. He informed the meeting that the redesigned pledge sheet was sent to all development partners more than 2 weeks ago and that he is confident that the analysis of the data from the redesigned pledge sheet will enable participants to see the extent to which the development cooperation resources are aligned with the PIP.

3.         On the second agenda item concerning JMIs for the forthcoming CG meeting, he emphasized two important points. First, that the Royal Government of Cambodia is implementing its reforms programs to put the nation on a path of sustainable growth, to improve public services delivery to the people, to reduce poverty, and to improve the livelihoods and quality of life of all citizens. He highlighted that the Royal Government's reform agenda is not being implemented to respond to development cooperation partners priorities but to implement the Royal Government's priorities that have been outlined in the Rectangular Strategy and the National Strategic Development Plan.

4.         Second, he informed the meeting that the Royal Government recognizes the challenges and the Royal Government is now moving ahead to ensure that the ministries and agencies responsible for implementing the development and reforms programs are taking charge as well as taking full ownership of the development and reform processes in their areas. He emphasized that in this process that is now well underway, the Royal Government has decided that the ministries and agencies must take responsibility for identifying the indicators that will be used to monitor progress on both development and reform programs in their respective areas. He said that the Royal Government would like development cooperation partners to work with ministries and agencies under the TWG mechanism in an environment of mutual accountability to facilitate and support the implementation of activities by the ministries and agencies to achieve our development and reform targets.  He highlighted that the Royal Government has put in place this GDCC mechanism as the high level forum where jointly monitor progress can be made and corrective actions can be taken and that it is important to work together in an environment of mutual accountability to become real partners in the development of Cambodia.

5.         He announced that the Updated Action Plan on harmonization, Alignment, and Results that was agreed to at the Partnership and Harmonization TWG meeting on 7 February have been approved by Samdech Prime Minister. He said that he has asked the Chairman of the Partnership and Harmonization TWG to update the Declaration that was signed on 2 December 2004 by RGC and 12 development partners who had agreed to support the implementation of the first Action Plan on Harmonization and Alignment. He urged all development partners to join in this effort to meet the commitments under the Paris Declaration.

6.         To begin discussion on the agenda items of the meeting, H.E. Mr. Keat Chhon, the Chair of GDCC, invited H.E. Mr. Chhieng Yanara, Secretary General of the GDCC, to make a brief presentation on the revised draft of JMIs for 2006 that was shared with the Development Partners last week.

7.         He said that the main purpose of redesigning the pledge sheet was to bring a sharper focus to aligning development cooperation resources with NSDP's sector allocations; getting a better handle on the type of assistance that is planned to be delivered, in terms of investment, TA, and budget support; and to move the process closer to multi-year resource commitments in accordance with the Paris Declaration.

8.         He informed the meeting that to prepare the zero draft of the JMIs for the forthcoming CG meeting, CDC had asked the Chairs of the TWGs to propose indicators to monitor progress in their area by January 19th. Based on the information provided by the Chairs of the TWGs as well as information provided by development partners through the World Bank, CDC had prepared a zero draft on JMIs for 2006 that focus on RGC's reform programs and high priority development areas. This draft was reviewed and revised at a meeting of the Chairs of the TWGs that was presided by H.E. Senior Minister Keat Chhon. At this meeting it was also agreed that the Chairs of the TWGs will share the draft of the JMIs with their respective Lead Donor Facilitators that were agreed to at this meeting. He said that CDC had also provided a copy of this draft of JMIs to the World Bank to share with all development partners in preparation for this GDCC meeting.

9.      Following H.E. Chhieng Yanara's presentation, H.E. Keat Chhon, Chair of the GDCC opened the floor for comments on the revised pledge sheet. The Japanese and German Ambassador informed the meeting that because of timing of their fiscal year, they cannot make an accurate pledge; however, they will provide an estimate to fulfill the pledge sheet requirements.  

10.    Summarizing the results of the discussion, the Chair said that overall there is an agreement on the revised pledge sheet. He noted that the comments of the two development partners who have indicated some difficulties in providing accurate pledge and announced the adoption of the revised pledge sheet for the forthcoming CG meeting. He outlined the importance of completing the indicative pledge information for the years 2007-08 to ensure that these are in line with the three year rolling of PIP.

11.       On the second agenda item for the meeting, H.E. Mr. Chhieng Yanara in his presentation provided information on the process and approach used to design the new pledge sheet for the upcoming CG meeting.  He informed the meeting that, as mentioned by H.E. Senior Minister Keat Chhon, CDC was tasked to redesign the pledge sheet in consultation with the SNEC and the World Bank at the last GDCC meeting. CDC had prepared a zero draft that was reviewed and approved by SNEC, and was also reviewed by and agreed with the World Bank. He was informed by the World Bank that the final draft of the pledge sheet was discussed at a meeting of the development partners. The draft of the JMI matrix that was presented is attached as Annex I.

12.    There was extensive discussion on each target and activities proposed. The following five development partners provided statements on specific topics, copies of which are attached in Annex 2:

1. H.E. Douglas Gardner, UN Resident Coordinator, on the Anti-corruption Law

2. H.E. Ambassador Fumiaki Takahashi on Legal and Judicial Assistance

3. Mr. Michael O'Leary, WHO Representative, on Human Development

4. Mr. Nigel Coulson, Governance Advisor, on Decentralization and Deconcentration

5. H.E. Shyam Bajpai, Country Director of ADB, on Private Sector Development

13.    The Chair of the Decentralization and Deconcentration (D&D) TWG also provided written comments on the joint donor statement on D&D, which is part of Annex 2.

14.    The Chair concluded the meeting by thanking participants for their input in the drafting of the JMIs. He also thanked Ambassadors and lead donor facilitators for their written statements. He asked H.E. Yanara to provide concluding remarks on the draft JMIs.

15.      H.E. Yanara concluded that the proposed targets and activities in the JMIs are much more detailed than last year. He encouraged the chairs of all TWGs and lead facilitators to consider reducing activities that are less important. The deadline for providing inputs to him is Friday 17 February 2006 by noon.

16.      Based on discussion of the meeting and inputs reveived by CDC by 17 February 2007, the revised draft of the JMI matrix for discussion at the forthcoming CG meeting on 2-3 March 2006 is attached as Annex 3.

17.    The Sixth GDCC meeting adjourned at 1:30pm.