Finian McGrath
Ceist:159 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if Ireland will request the EU to make a start to achieve the target of 0.7% of GDP being directed towards development aid as the UN has repeatedly requested. [6359/03]
Written Answers - Overseas Development Aid.
At the Barcelona European Council in March 2002, those EU member states which had not yet reached the UN ODA expenditure target of 0.7% of GNP committed themselves individually to increasing their ODA volume within their respective budget allocation processes. Those member states at or above the target – Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden – agreed to renew their efforts to maintain this position so that collectively a European Union average of 0.39% is reached by 2006. Member states that have not reached the current EU average of 0.33% agreed to strive to reach this figure at least by 2006. This EU commitment was confirmed at the international conference on financing for development at Monterrey, Mexico, later in March 2002.
In November 2002, the General Affairs and External Relations Council entrusted the Commission with the task of monitoring the implementation of this commitment and presenting it with a report in May next on progress achieved to date. Accordingly, the Commission in December last circulated member states with a questionnaire to consolidate information on national ODA expenditures throughout the Union. The data gathered from this exercise, when presented to the Council in May, will provide a first indication of the extent to which member states are on track in regard to the commitment made by the Union at Monterrey.
Ireland strongly supports the close monitoring of the Union's Monterrey commitment to increase its ODA expenditure. It has been estimated that the increase should translate into additional ODA from EU member states of $20 billion between 2002 and 2006.