17.11.2009
Germany stands by its international commitments
EU Development Ministers' Council in Brussels on 17 November 2009
At the EU Development Ministers' meeting in Brussels, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Development Ministry, Gudrun Kopp, confirmed that "Germany will meet its international commitments. We stand by our obligation to provide 0.7 per cent of our gross domestic product for development by 2015." Germany's new government will continue to work with EU member states to enhance aid effectiveness and improve the development coherence of EU policies.
Further items on the agenda of today's Development Ministers' meeting in Brussels include climate change and the contribution to be made by European development policy. Kopp noted that "we will only be able to successfully tackle climate change if we further reinforce this task as an integral part of our development cooperation." At present, the Development Ministry's budget already includes as much as about one billion euros for climate-related projects and programs.