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German development policy in the Coalition Agreement between the FDP, CDU and CSU
In the Coalition Agreement between the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) signed in October 2009, the German government endorses international development goals and makes a commitment to strive for sustainable reductions in poverty and structural deficits as called for in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Core defining elements of German development policy are to be the strengthening of good governance, ownership and the potential for self-help in the developing countries.
The Coalition Agreement defines the following as key sectors for development cooperation: good governance, education and training, health, rural development, protection of the climate, the environment and natural resources, and economic cooperation.
As part of the European and international division of labour, Germany will in future pursue cooperation with a limited number of partner countries.
In addition to outlining plans to involve churches, political foundations and non-governmental organisations more closely in German development cooperation, the Coalition Agreement also envisages close cooperation with the German private sector.
The structure of development cooperation
The German government intends to carry out organisational and structural reforms with a view to increasing the effectiveness of German development policy and improving the targeting of aid. The duplication of structures in government and in the implementing organisations is to be eliminated. Implementing structures are to be reformed within the first year of the current legislative period.
International development architecture
The German government is striving to bring about a fundamental reform of EU development policy with the aim of achieving greater coherence, complementarity and subsidiarity, and a logical division of labour.
According to the Coalition Agreement, there must be an end to the different treatment of developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific compared with developing countries in other regions of the world, and the EU must achieve uniformity in its development cooperation.
Financing
Despite the financial crisis, the coalition government intends to meet its international commitment to gradually increase official German development assistance (ODA) to 0.7 per cent of gross national income.
An English version of the Coalition Agreement (PDF 1.1 MB) can be found here. The chapter referring to development cooperation starts on page 181 of the document.
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