Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2014

2014 saw the beginning of intensive preparation of the UN’s vital post-2015 agenda, the aim of which is to put in place a new framework for action by the international community to promote sustainable development and poverty eradication. The new Sustainable Development Goals, which will take over from the current Millennium Development Goals (due to expire in 2015), will include the three dimensions of sustainable development – its economic, social and environmental components. At the national level, the preparation of Luxembourg’s position was the subject of discussions during the conference on development in April and a communication by Ministers Schneider and Dieschbourg approved by the government council in November 2014. At the European level, the ministers adopted the Council Conclusions of 16 December 2014 highlighting the universal and inclusive nature of the programme. Previously, the different working groups in New York had published their recommendations for the future intergovernmental negotiations in 2015, particularly the Open Working Group, which proposed a package of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. At the beginning of December, the synthesis report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appeared, which in turn took up these goals and sketched out the path leading to the Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015 in Addis Ababa and the New York Summit at the end of September 2015.

On 22 May 2014, the Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs Romain Schneider went to Geneva on a working visit. He had meetings with two major actors in the health sector, WHO and UNAIDS, as well as with Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The discussions highlighted the successful collaboration between Luxembourg and the ILO, especially through the programmes in Luxembourg development cooperation’s partner countries. These programmes complement Luxembourg’s bilateral projects, for example its vocational training programmes. The discussions also revealed a convergence of opinions on the importance of social protection, including in the new, post-2015 development framework.

Annual bilateral consultations took place with the Global Fund in May, UNAIDS in October and the World Health Organization (WHO) in November 2014. The consultations with the WHO took place between Luxembourg’s Director of development cooperation and the Deputy Director-Generals of the WHO for each department financed by Luxembourg, i.e. HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases; health of the family, women and children; health and innovation systems; non-communicable diseases. A new element in 2014 was a meeting with the humanitarian department of the WHO to discuss possible future collaboration. An initial attempt at this collaboration was a non-scheduled contribution to the regional efforts of the WHO in the Ebola crisis. Finally, the consultations culminated in a detailed discussion of the regional programme implemented by the WHO in Luxembourg cooperation’s five African partner countries – the EU-LU-WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership. 

In June, the annual bilateral consultations also took place with the various UN agencies in New York (UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA). This annual meeting enables stock to be taken of the past year: focusing on the progress made but also on the gaps yet to be filled. The annual consultations also enable both parties to present their respective future strategies and to discuss their common vision for the year to come.

At the DAC ministerial meeting on 15/16 December in Paris, a meeting in which Minister Schneider participated, progress was made regarding soft loans, whereby a wider scope of calculation of ODA was agreed, in particular to enable the least developed countries to gain more benefit from this growth instrument. The ministers also discussed the need to take more responsibility for the flow of ODA to countries in need and the creation of an additional measure to keep accounts of all the public funding for development.