Press release 04 September 2008
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Agreement reached on more effective development assistance - Gunilla Carlsson pleased with final declaration in Accra

Recipient countries will have greater responsibility. Donor countries must get better at delegating work and reducing micromanagement. Sweden's own reform agenda has contributed to greater international efforts.

The high-level meeting in Accra, which gathered more than 100 ministers from around the world, today succeeded in agreeing on a final declaration that can contribute to more effective international aid. Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson is pleased with the outcome.

"We succeeded in getting the donor countries and recipient countries to agree to less micromanagement and more results-based management," says Gunilla Carlsson.

The action programme that has now been adopted, Accra Agenda for Action, is a follow-up on the Paris Declaration of 2005, which aims for more effective development assistance.

"The declaration is a step forward but much still remains to be done. Sweden and the EU are setting their sights on continued rapid reform," says Gunilla Carlsson.

Sweden's own reform agenda has contributed to greater international efforts. Among other things, the final declaration has resulted in donor countries agreeing to coordinate their efforts more effectively so that not all donors are working on, say, health issues while no one is doing anything about infrastructure or education. Another example is that donor countries are to inform all partner countries, in good time, about how and when development assistance funds will be paid out.

Moreover, recipient countries have undertaken to make vigorous efforts to fight corruption and to take a clear lead in coordinating development cooperation in their own countries.