Foreign Ministry fears that goals of development aid funding may not be met
MP Jaakonsaari: Finland's position within UN and EU could weaken
Liisa Jaakonsaari
|
|
Liisa Jaakonsaari
|
Outi Ojala
|
|
Outi Ojala
|
Mari Kiviniemi
|
|
Mari Kiviniemi
|
|
|
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs believes that Finland's international reputation is deteriorating and its status is declining, because of the country's insufficient financial input in development cooperation so far. Development cooperation is a bone that is gnawed on annually in budget discussions.
According to the Ministry's estimates, next year and the amount of funds allocated for 2007 will be decisive when considering whether or not Finland will meet the goal set by the current government of raising the size of development cooperation appropriations to 0.7 percent of GDP by 2010.
In 2006, Finland's development aid will be EUR 671 million, which represents 0.42 percent of GDP. Last year the figure was 0.39 percent.
The level of development aid planned for the next year by the Ministry of Finance is not sufficient, bearing in mind that the goal of 0.7 percent should be reached by 2010, says Deputy Director General Juhani Toivonen of the Foreign Ministry's Department for Development Policy.
"Maybe we should ask if the government's goal is still the same as it originally was", Toivonen argues.
Liisa Jaakonsaari (SDP), the Chairman of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, believes that not meeting the goals in development cooperation would weaken Finland's status even within the United Nations.
Jaakonsaari estimated on Thursday that in practice this would show up in the fact that the appointment of Finns to important UN posts would become even more difficult than before.
Last year the European Union approved a goal that states that the development aid of the Union's member states will be 0.56 percent of GDP in 2010. The calculations are based on the fact that all member countries - including Finland - will reach their stated target levels by that time.
Toivonen points out that it would be "a rather peculiar signal" from Finland, if it were to give up its goal now, just before the country's six-month EU Presidency term, which is to begin on July 1st of this year.
All the other Nordic countries have already met the 0.7 percent level, and some have already passed the limit. "The more we lag behind our own reference group, the more difficult it will be to be a member of it", notes Toivonen.
The President of the Nordic Council, MP Outi Ojala (Left Alliance), said on Thursday that she has to explain to her Nordic colleagues every year why Finland's contribution to development cooperation is so low.
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Mari Kiviniemi (Centre) has also encountered foreigners' raised eyebrows at Finland's low level of development aid during her six months in office. Nevertheless, she does not regard it as a big problem.
"After all, many foreigners understand that Finland experienced an economically difficult period in the 1990s. Besides, our development aid is being constantly increased. One should not understate the pace of growth of our development assistance funds, either", Kiviniemi concludes.
The Ministry of Finance is to negotiate next year's budget with other ministries at the end of the month.
The Government will then estimate how much money will be available in 2007, and how much the ministries will be able to allocate funds for each purpose.
The ministries gave their own budget proposals by the end of last year, and the Ministry of Finance sent its replies to the proposals of each ministry at the beginning of February.
Links:
Ministry for Foreign Affairs Development Cooperation
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 17.2.2006 - TODAY |
Foreign Ministry fears that goals of development aid funding may not be met
|
|
