<b>Finland appoints new OECD representative</b>
Finland’s current Under Secretary of State for International Development Cooperation and Policy Pertti Majanen is to take up a new ambassadorial position as Finland’s Permanent Representative at the OECD in Paris from September 2005.

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Report slams Global Health Fund’s spending on auditing firms

International auditing firms working as “local agents" for the Global Health Fund to monitor spending in 110 countries are in extreme cases charging up to USD 3,250 per day. Their competence is narrow and the system has become too expensive.

HeSo/NCG review recommends:

The review offers a number of recommendations to the Global Fund. As a short term measure, the report proposes to differentiate the need for services dependent on the level of risk of each recipient country.

The Global Fund is in the process of renegotiating payment rates for firms acting as its local agents, following the Heso/NCG report, which concludes that the costs are too high.

Nordic governments stand by the principle of transparency in fighting corruption and reject the Asian Development Bank’s anti-corruption approach, where bribery cases are kept out of the courts.

SN Power ready to discuss Karuma if Uganda puts it first The Norwegian hydropower investment company SN Power Invest (SN Power) says it is willing to discuss investing in the Karuma Falls hydropower project if the authorities in Uganda prioritise it.

Next year Swedish aid will grow to SEK 23.9 billion, equivalent to 0.88 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI). This is an increase of as much as SEK 2.2 billion. The government’s ambition is to increase the budget even more for 2006 to reach 1 per cent of GNI.

The Norwegian government proposes a sharp increase in the aid budget, but keeps total core funding of most large UN agencies at a standstill. UNICEF funding is cut. As a result, Sweden will become a much larger donor than Norway in all main UN agencies except UNDP.

Following a decision by Parliament this fall, Finland breaks rank with the other EU member states and delays by ten years the signing of the Ottawa convention banning land mines.

The Danish Foreign Ministry has allocated DKK 20 million over the next two years to the newly established Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Institute in Cairo. The project is part of the Danish government’s so-called Arab Initiative.

Report exposes lack of aid coordination

In 2001, there were 23,844 aid officials working in ministries, directorates and agencies across Europe handling the disbursement of official development assistance. Coordinating them can’t be easy.