The Danish government’s Arab Initiative, launched in June, has been renamed. It now aims at strengthening the dialogue with countries from Morocco in the West to Iran in the East, and as Iran is not an Arab country the initiative is to be known as the Danish Wider Middle East Initiative.

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‘They do it their way. We do it our way.’

The merging of the aid and foreign affairs portfolios has definitely not caused Denmark to lose international influence on development policy issues.

The Danish government has launched a new strategy for environmental aid focusing on China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Its choice of cooperation countries, sectors and technical assistance is closely linked to Danish plans to buy up carbon dioxide quotas. In addition, DKK 400 million will be allocated outside the aid budget for the next four years to make use of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol.

The appointment of Swedish State Secretary for Development Annika Söder to the Board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) signals a cautious shift in Sweden’s approach to the organisation.

UN agencies and development banks seem hesitant to lower their flags in the field. They also perform poorly with regard to disbursing funds through recipient budgets. But the agencies have become more open and contributed to more poverty oriented health policies in recipient countries.

Danish opposition parties and development NGOs do not give the full picture when they argue that the aid policy debate was broader, more open and more transparent under the former administration.

Major overhaul of Danish aid proposed

On February 2, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament will host a public conference on Danish aid policy arranged by the Danish Institute of International Studies. The Committee will visit Sweden to study the new Global Development Policy recently adopted by the Swedish Parliament.

Swedish global aid policy passed

In mid-December, the Swedish Parliament passed Sweden’s long-awaited Policy for Global Development. The policy originates from a commission established in 1999 by former Development Minister Maj-Inger Klingvall.

Before the collapse of the EU Summit in Brussels on December 13, Presidents and Prime Ministers of the EU member states welcomed a comprehensive plan to strengthen, widen and formalise the dialogue between the EU and the Arab world.