UNIS/INF/202
18 April 2007
High-level Symposium on Coordinating and Managing Development Cooperation to be Held in Vienna
VIENNA, 18 April (UN Information Service) - A high-level symposium on "Country-level experiences in coordinating and managing development cooperation" will be held from 19-20 April at UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria, organized jointly by the Government of Austria and the United Nations Secretariat Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).
The symposium is part of the preparatory process for the new Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) which ECOSOC will launch in Geneva in July. The DCF is to review trends in international development cooperation, promote greater coherence among activities of different partners and strengthen the link between the normative and operational work of the United Nations.
The symposium will be chaired by Ambassador Dalius Cekuolis, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and Ambassador Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl, Director-General, Department for Development Cooperation, Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. Keynote speakers include José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General, UNDESA and Ambassador Johannes Kyrle, Austrian Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs.
The high-level discussants and moderators include: Richard Manning, Chair, Development Assistance Committee, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Victor Borges, Foreign Minister of Cape Verde; Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); Firmino Mucavele, Executive Head, New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD); and Bruce Jenks, UN Assistant-Secretary-General and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Administrator.
The symposium will focus on some of the major challenges facing development cooperation today. Recognizing the importance of the internationally agreed development goals, it will focus in part on how national development strategies can act as frameworks for development cooperation.
A cornerstone in carrying forward the development agenda is mutual accountability between developing and developed countries. This compact includes an increased focus on the quality of aid, including stable and predictable resource flows as well as improving the monitoring of aid. The symposium will present case studies from Viet Nam and Mozambique, respectively, to kick off discussion on these issues.
Considering the recent commitments in up-scaling of aid, the symposium will debate what the current scenarios are for developing countries in leveraging increases in aid. Finally, the symposium will discuss recent experiences and progress in harmonizing donor efforts, including the One UN pilot inititative in Cape Verde.
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For information please contact:
Sonja Wintersberger
Officer-in-Charge, News and Media Liaison Unit
UNIS Vienna
Telephone: +43 1 260 60 3430
E-mail:
sonja.wintersberger@unvienna.org
