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The Accra Action Plan for Aid Effectiveness will contribute to the implementation of the Paris Declaration. Shortly after the Accra Forum, the attention is already focused on the next step in 2010. We now have two years to promote along with our partners the regional approach within international development aid practices. The revision process of the Food Aid Charter is in my view a concrete example of how aid effectiveness can be improved through regional co-operation.
As a promoter of this type of dialogue and innovation, the SWAC must increase its base of financial contributors and technical partners while adapting to the demands of the changing international environment. Recent missions to Stockholm and Copenhagen could lead to fruitful collaboration with the Swedish and Danish Co-operation Agencies. The joint strategic thinking workshop in Vienna on 25 September 2008 with the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs enabled us to renew the SWAC’s partnership with Austria. We also plan to meet with the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD) in Oslo by the end of this year. Moreover, other missions, in particular to Portugal (IPAD) and Spain (AECID) are foreseen.
The Strategy and Policy Group (SPG) meeting in June 2008 provided the SWAC and its Secretariat with an ambitious road map. We are striving to become more service-orientated and responsive to West Africa’s hot issues by providing access to regional information and analysis, and setting out innovative proposals. The new collection of “SWAC Briefing Notes”, of which the first two issues are available in this newsletter (“Regional Aid Effectiveness” and "Green Fuels for Development?") is a first step towards addressing this challenge.
Within this newsletter you will find information regarding other SWAC activities, covering the work period from June to September 2008. From now on, this information letter will again be produced on a monthly basis.
Mr. Normand Lauzon, SWAC Director
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