The waiting game, Busan day one
Posted on 29 November 2011
China pulled out of the global partnership at the Busan aid summit today. It seems that’s the main news, at least for the media.
The EU should have seen it coming.
Over 3,500 government officials, civil society representatives and journalists gathered for the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
The opening plenary of the three-day event was marked by speeches of Brian Atwood, chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark. Atwood claimed that the first day would set the scene for what’s possibly the last High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is participating in several sessions at the conference and gave a press conference.
Blair’s old catchphrase while UK Prime Minister was “education, education, education”, these days its “Africa, Africa, Africa”.
He expressed his enthusiasm on a new Global Partnership for Development. “It is the right moment for this conference in these times of financial crisis, we have to think how to spend it”, Blair said. On a question from CONCORD on the role of China in a Global Partnership, the former Prime Minister highlighted the crucial relationship with the large emerging state. “China spends more money on infrastructure than the World Bank does”.
However, while the opening plenary and following side events were taking place, voices about a possible pull back from China out of the negotiations on a Busan Outcome Document, became louder. After months of preparatory meetings, it seems China doesn’t want to be part of the future partnership.
Looking at the European Union, it is already clear that Member States will show much less ambition for this High Level Forum in comparison to the previous High Level Forum in Accra, 2003.
CONCORD Comment
China should not put off the European Union to stand up for transparency, rights based approaches and democratic ownership. Several EU member states have pushed for further weakening of aid commitments on aid transparency. EU member states are not effectively standing up for some of the basic commitments on untying aid
