03/11/2005 - The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee welcomed a promise by Belgium to increase its aid to 0.7% of Gross National Income by 2010, backed by a legal commitment to increase aid by 0.05 percentage points per year between now and then, starting from 2005’s expected level of 0.45% of GNI, or USD 1.45 billion.
To manage this increase in aid, which is in line with commitments by the world's major countries to raise their aid levels to 0.7% of gross national income under the Millennium Development Goals, the committee recommended that Belgium further rationalise its aid systems.
The Committee commented positively on the geographical concentration of Belgian aid and its commitment to the least developed countries such as the fragile states of Central Africa. Belgium is seeking to make its aid more effective through efforts such as leading the pilot exercise in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on implementing the OECD's Principles for Engagement in Fragile States.
The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, which groups major aid donors that are members of the OECD, issued the main findings and recommendations of the report on Belgium as part of a regular series of reviews of its members’ aid policies and programmes. The Belgian delegation attending the meeting that discussed the review was headed by Armand De Decker, Belgium’s Minister of Development Co-operation and the review as overseen by two other member countries.
For further information, journalists are invited to contact Helen Fisher, OECD Media Relations Division (tel. 331 45 24 80 97).
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