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France to link development aid to governance issues |
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20:05, July 18, 2007 |
France will link the provision of future development assistance to "to governance issues" in recipient countries, Jean-Marie Bockel, France''s state secretary for cooperation and francophonie, has said.
"It''s not normal for the recipient countries to remain indifferent especially when it comes to issues of governance," Bockel, who was speaking during this year''s international days for cooperation and development, said Monday.
He underlined four criteria, which must be used in assessing the recipient countries "is the regime in power democratically elected? Are public policies tailored to benefit the masses? Are human rights respected? Are there efforts to fight corruption?"
"If the answer to all these questions is negative," then, " political dialogue must be given priority."
The state secretary also said that France''s Official Development Assistance (ODA) must go "to the essential areas," " focussing on one or two strategic sectors in each of the recipient countries."
In addition, Bockel called for enhanced budgetary efforts to meet commitments for ODA, which is an "essential element in judging the credibility of France on the international scene."
"Commitments, which have been made, must be respected. We will not achieve our objective of allocating 0.7 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to ODA by 2015 if significant efforts are not made annually," Bockel said.
In 2006, the ODA represented 0.47 percent of France''s GDP.
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