22/10/2013 – Poland has become the 28^th member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the leading international forum for bilateral providers of development co-operation.

Poland joins the DAC following a period of steady growth of its official development assistance (ODA) which reached $438 million in 2012. Poland’s bilateral ODA is concentrated in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine (the Eastern Partnership countries), as well as some developing countries in Central Asia and Africa. It provides bilateral development co-operation in the areas of fostering democratisation, human rights and political transformation, education, environment, development of small and medium size enterprises and professionalization of public administration. Poland’s multilateral assistance is mainly channelled through the European Union.

“Poland’s membership is another landmark for the Development Assistance Committee” said the DAC Chair Erik Solheim. “Poland is a country with impressive development achievements and important experience in many areas that are central to our work. I expect Poland to contribute on many key issues, from the political and economic experience of transition to the future of development finance. I applaud the Polish government and look forward to working closely with them on issues that will shape the future of our world.”

 

“For over five decades the DAC has played a central role in the global discussions on development co-operation and ODA. I believe that no other institution has exerted such an influence on the way assistance has been provided to developing countries as OECD/DAC”  said Ms. Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland.

 

Poland is the fourth OECD member to join the DAC in 2013, following the accessions of Iceland on 14 March, the Czech Republic on 14 May and the Slovak Republic on 17 September.

 

Further information on Poland’s accession to DAC is available at: http://www.oecd.org/dac/peer-reviews/poland.htm and about the OECD Development Assistance Committee at:  http://www.oecd.org/dac/

 

Media enquiries should be directed to Michael Laird, senior policy analyst in the OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate (Michael.Laird@oecd.org, +33 1 4524 9033) or the OECD Media Office (news.contact@oecd.org, +33 1 4524 7970).