 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
Partnership and Harmonisation TWG Opening Remarks
Excellencies, colleagues from Government, Development Partners, Ladies and Gentlemen
Good afternoon. Welcome to the CDC and to this first meeting of our Partnership and Harmonisation Technical Working Group in 2010. It is a little late to wish you a Happy New Year but I trust that 2010 has started well and I look forward to working with all of you in what will be a busy year. Our objective for our meeting today is very much linked to both national and global processes. Our agenda – beginning with a review of our draft workplan – will therefore take us through issues related to the Evaluation, progress in applying aid effectiveness work at sector level, the preparations for the CDCF and the production of the Aid Effectiveness Report.
In Cambodia we are of course looking forward to the CDCF in June, which is preceded by the Evaluation of the Paris Declaration. And globally, this is of course the final year of the Paris Declaration's implementation and so we will expect increased attention on this topic as we take stock of what has been achieved and what more still needs to be done. I had the opportunity to attend the OECD/DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness in December and I can inform you that there are concerns about the pace of implementation and the direction to be taken after the Seoul meeting. I have been in contact with the Working Party Chairs throughout 2009, contributing to thinking about future direction, and I have also asked the Working Party Chairs, in a letter to them in December last year, to support our efforts close the gap the gap between the global commitments and action at partner country level.
It is worthwhile emphasising that implementing and achieving aid effectiveness is not the responsibility of CDC. It is the responsibility of us all, both Government, development partner and NGO. But of course CDC is available to help and to facilitate. This year we are particularly concerned to continue our work with all Ministries and agencies of the Royal Government so that aid effectiveness work is integrated into the mainstream. We are therefore hoping to maintain support to the development of programme-based approaches, promoting capacity development and national systems, and ensuring mutual accountability in the aid partnership between Government, development partners and NGOs. So today's agenda represents a set of issues that are of mutual interest and I trust that our discussion can be guided by this principle.
We are also joined by members of the Evaluation Team – and I welcome them to our meeting. So can we please begin by asking them to introduce themselves and by also asking any other new members to make their introductions to the group?
[Introductions – of new members or all?]
Thank you. May I next ask if the agenda is agreeable to all members?
|