Luxembourg's development cooperation - Annual report 2017

The Committee met six times during 2017, on 16 February, 21 April, 2 June, 29 September, 17 November and 8 December. The representatives of the development NGOs’ Cercle de coopération regularly attended these meetings.

The Committee examined and approved the draft annual report on its work for inclusion in the 2016 annual report of Luxembourg’s development cooperation. At the meetings in 2017, in accordance with the committee’s mandate, major issues were addressed, such as:

A) the broad orientation of development cooperation policy

• The Committee took stock of the follow-up to the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul in May 2016. At the Summit, Luxembourg made 45 optional commitments, 42 solely Luxembourgish commitments and 3 “joint” ones. The implementation of the Luxembourgish commitments, which focus on very precise but varied areas, is in progress. The Committee was informed that the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs - or, in the wider sense, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs - is responsible for their implementation. However, some commitments (especially commitments 21 and 22) involve several Ministries, i.e. the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure and the Ministry of the Interior.
• The Committee was informed of how relations of Luxembourg’s development cooperation with the private sector have been enhanced, especially through the Business Partnership Facility (BPF) and microfinance.
• The peer review by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) carried out in Luxembourg in March 2017 in order to evaluate Luxembourg’s development cooperation policy, was presented to the Committee. On 19 October 2017 the OECD published the results of the peer review, with which Luxembourg was very satisfied. DAC formulated 13 recommendations to perfect certain areas, including Luxembourg’s cooperation strategies.
• The Committee was given a presentation of the report “The Cabo Verdian diaspora in Luxembourg from the perspective of the Cabo Verdian community’s solidarity with their country of origin.” The report addresses three areas: i) migratory flows, ii) the social and political participation of the Cabo Verdian population in Luxembourg, iii) links with the Cabo Verdian population in Cabo Verde in terms of solidarity and cooperation. The presentation to the Committee focused on the latter aspect.
• The Committee was invited to and informed of the Luxembourg development cooperation conference (Assises de la Coopération) held on 13 and 14 September 2017 at the European Convention Centre at Luxembourg-Kirchberg. The main theme of the conference was the implementation of Agenda 2030 and, more specifically, Sustainable Development Goal 17 on inclusive multi-actor partnerships for effective development cooperation. 190 actors attended the conference, including representatives of the partner countries, members of parliament, the various Luxembourg Ministries, LuxDev, the numerous NGOs active in Luxembourg and in the global South, international institutions, the private sector and the research world.
• The Committee was informed of the amended law on development cooperation and humanitarian action passed in December 2017, which entered into force on 1 January 2018. The amendments concern the co-financing rates, which have been set at 80% for projects implemented in the LDC and Luxembourg’s development cooperation partner countries, as well as for projects relating directly to human rights and the elimination of violence against women and young girls. All the other projects - i.e. simple co-financing and projects under framework agreements will from now on be co-financed at a rate of 60 %.
• The Committee attended the presentation by the Center for Global Development (CGD), a think-tank that publishes the annual commitment to development indices (CDI). The aim of the CGD is to monitor and compare the efforts of the 27 richest countries in order to improve their development policies.

B) Policy coherence for development

• As part of its mandate in terms of policy coherence for development the Committee held two debates in 2017:

- The first was entitled “The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and developing countries”, and led to the Interministerial Committee’s issuing a draft opinion.
- The second was entitled “administrative cooperation in the field of taxation in Luxembourg: taking stock.”

During these two debates, various government experts gave a presentation on the background to the subject, from the perspective of policy coherence for development, to the Committee’s delegates, together with the national positions taken. Then the Committee listened to the positions of the representatives of the Cercle of NGOs before discussing the position to adopt.

In line with its modus operandi, the Committee was able to issue a draft opinion on 2 June 2017 on the coherence of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in terms of development policy.

With regard to the monitoring of the debate entitled “administrative cooperation in the field of taxation in Luxembourg: taking stock,” presentations were given by the Ministry of Finance and OXFAM.

• The Committee attended the presentation by the Cercle of NGOs of the 2017 edition of the analysis (Fair Politics) of policy coherence for development published in parallel with the statement by the Minister for Development Cooperation to the Chamber of deputies.
• The Committee attended the presentation of the OECD questionnaire on the institutional mechanisms required to enhance policy coherence in order to implement the SDG. The Committee briefly discussed with the interested parties, including the NGOs, the items to be included in the questionnaire responses, while also, with a view to the NGOs’ cooperation, referring to the peer review results. The various Ministries involved were invited to contribute information in their field for inclusion in the responses to the questionnaire.

c) Agenda 2030

• The Committee was informed of the various elements of the implementation of Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, 169 targets and 243 indicators, in particular through the presentation of the obligations and roles of the varied actors and the different stages planned for implementation.
• The Committee attended a presentation given by ECDPM of Maastricht (European Centre for Development Policy and Management) explaining the evolution of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

d) Staff active within development

Pursuant to Articles 24 and 50 of the amended law of 6 January 1996, the Committee approved in writing:

• 5 applications for cooperation official status,
• the extension of 1 cooperation official’s contract,
• the extension of 12 aid workers’ status,
• 6 new applications for assimilated aid worker status,
• 64 applications for development cooperation leave