Alexander De Croo advocates for better humanitarian funding at the Development Cooperation Council

Alexander De Croo and Sven Mikser discussed the importance for Europe to take decisive steps forward in the area of Digital for Development. The European Commission published a Staff Working Paper on the subject of Digital for Development one and a half week ago. Belgium is one of Europe’s leading countries with regard to this matter. The first task now is to reach Council Conclusions in the second half of 2017 during the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

She Decides

Alexander De Croo thanked Estonia for its support to ‘She Decides’, an initiative aimed at improving the rights of girls and women, in particular their sexual and reproductive rights and health. Estonia was one of the fifty countries who attended the ‘She Decides Brussels Conference’ in March where 181 million euros were pledged.

At the Development Cooperation Council, Alexander De Croo also advocated for a better humanitarian funding that is more predictable, multiannual and not earmarked. This must allow humanitarian organizations to react more flexibly and faster to humanitarian emergency situations such as famines in Yemen, Nigeria, South-Sudan and Somalia. Today, Belgium is implementing this approach which is in line with the agreements made last year during the World Humanitarian Summit.

UN reform

The European ministers also discussed with Amina Mohammed, the new Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, the reform of the UN Development System, which must lead to an improved UN response at country level. This is important in order to successfully implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.    

Minister De Croo also briefly explained the preparations for the establishment of a Belgian National Voluntary Review, which maps the implementation by Belgium of the Agenda 2030 and  that will be presented next July to the UN High Level Political Forum in New York .