http://www.minbuza.nl/content.asp?Key=420255
Aan de Voorzitter van de Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal Binnenhof 4 Den Haag DSI/MY Bezuidenhoutseweg 67 2594 AC Den Haag Nederland Datum 11 september 2001 Auteur Brechtje Paardekooper Kenmerk DSI/MY 393/01 Telefoon 070 3486032
Blad /1 Fax 070 3484883
Bijlage(n) 1 E-mail brecht.paardekooper@minbuza.nl Betreft Verslag Joint Committee vergadering
C.c.
Zeer geachte Voorzitter,
Dit voorjaar is de evaluatie van de Duurzame Ontwikkelingsverdragen afgerond. De resultaten en bevindingen zijn vastgelegd in het rapport dat U op 6 april reeds is toegegaan.
Mijn collega van VROM en ik hebben het rapport op 19 april jl. met de collegae uit de partnerlanden besproken. Mede op grond van dat overleg hebben wij de conclusies getrokken die vervat zijn in de Beleidsreactie Evaluatie Duurzame Ontwikkelingsverdragen, die u op 11 mei jl. is toegegaan, en die voor het Algemeen Overleg met de Kamer op 13 september as. geagendeerd is.
Aangezien de beleidsreactie in belangrijke mate is gebaseerd op het overleg met de collegae uit de partnerlanden over het evaluatierapport, lijkt het mij niet meer dan correct om u ook de onlangs vastgestelde notulen van deze vergadering te doen toekomen.
de Minister voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking
Eveline Herfkens
Draft minutes of the Fourth Meeting of the Joint Committee of the Sustainable Development Agreements, held in New York, April 19 , 2001 at the Permanent Mission of The Netherlands to the United Nations.
1. Opening
The meeting started at 9.10 a.m.
2. Welcome by HE Ms. Eveline Herfkens, minister for Development Co-operation
of The Netherlands
Minister Herfkens greeted all participants. She announced that minister Jan
Pronk would join the meeting a little later and suggested that the more
substantive items of the agenda would be dealt with only after his arrival.
She also proposed to have a 'ministers-only' segment of the meeting.
Following a suggestion by Benin, an item 'Other matters' was added to the
agenda. This report follows the order of the agenda as proposed in advance.
3. Adoption of the Minutes of the Joint Committee Meeting of April 23,
1999
The minutes of the previous Meeting were adopted.
4.Discussion of the Final Report, Evaluation of the Sustainable Development
Agreements, and
5. Exchange of views on the future of the SDAs
The ministers of the four countries presented their reactions to the final
evaluation report.
The Netherlands reconfirmed the political commitment of the Netherlands
Government towards the SDAs, in particular in the light of some unjustified
remarks in the evaluation report. She emphasised that the evaluation clearly
showed that the implementation of the SDAs had not been without problems,
and that measures would need to be taken to rectify that situation. In this
regard, the communication about these actions to the Dutch Parliament was
considered to be essential.
She proposed that the discussion on this agenda item would have the
character of an exchange of views rather than being aimed at taking
decisions.
Bhutan also expressed support for the SDA-process. Every new initiative has
its teething problems, but Bhutan was ready to continue to make efforts to
improve the implementation of the agreement. Bhutan further mentioned that
the SDAs are a good example, which inspires other donors.
Benin welcomed the opportunity for an open exchange of views. The minister remarked that it is not easy to change paradigms, but the SDA experience so far has already shown that important changes are possible. He specifically mentioned the aspect of enhanced participation as the most beneficial, because it involved the mobilisation of large parts of civil society.
The concept of reciprocity had not been easy to operationalise. Nevertheless, a very useful reciprocal project had been carried out only half a year ago, just after the period studied by the evaluators.
He further mentioned an unintended negative, even 'perverse' effect of the SDA: the fact that it had become the only channel for Dutch co-operation had led to a reduction of resources. The Netherlands concluded that in this case exclusivity had got in the way of bilateral ODA relations.
Costa Rica indicated general agreement with the evaluation report and the
recommendations it contains. The Dutch co-operation must not be understood
nor channeled through the SDA's as the sole track. The Government of Costa
Rica can not accept, for the totality of the collaboration between the
Governments of The Netherlands and Costa Rica, to be channeled through the
Agreement
The Netherlands minister for Development Cooperation noted that the report
points to a number of deficiencies, and that it is necessary to provide
solutions for those problems.
She also wondered why other parties had not joined the SDAs.
In reaction to that query, Costa Rica said that the SDAs are seen as a Dutch
experiment, and that the agreements should be brought to the global level.
Apart from that, the Costa Rican minister said that the process had
remained old-fashioned, even though the substance was innovative. As a
reason for others not joining the agreements, the ratification process was
mentioned.
Benin also stated that the SDA is seen as a Dutch mechanism and felt that
the experiences of the SDA should be brought to the attention of the global
audience. He also re-emphasised that paradigm-shifts take time. Problems are
a natural component of innovation.
The Netherlands enquired about the relationship between the SDA-practice and
the PRSP. Benin answered that in order to reduce poverty a number of
policies are needed in the social and economic domains, while carefully
managing natural resources. Actually, this is a description of sustainable
development. Therefore the CBDD is involved in a co-operative effort with
UNDP on the PRSP.
The Netherlands then remarked that the SDAs from the start had been meant to
be catalysts. Had this actually been the case, or had they now become
superfluous or even a hindrance to development?
. Costa Rica mentioned a few examples of the outreach of the SDA (such as a
debt swap for nature and a gender related project), where the SDA practice
actually had influenced the results in a decisive manner, in terms of
stronger involvement of other donors.
. Benin thought that lack of progress so far was partly due to the way the
SDAs are perceived (uniquely Dutch). As far as reciprocity was concerned, he
felt that the receiving hand should also be giving. In the Beninese context,
experience with real reciprocity was only a few months old.
. Bhutan regarded the SDA certainly not as superfluous or a hindrance.
However the minister felt that it was still too early to answer the
question on the catalytic role of the national mechanism, due to the fact
that transfer of responsibilities to the Bhutanese national mechanism has
yet to take place.
The Netherlands suggested that more discussion was needed concerning the
'Dutchness' of the SDAs, their catalytic function (as opposed to their
replacement of ODA) and the matter of reciprocity.
At this point the meeting continued as a 'ministers only'-segment.
After this segment, the minister summarised the results for the benefit of
those who had not been present:
. There is a unanimous support amongst the Netherlands ministers present to
continue the SDA and defend them strongly in parliament, if necessary.
. Placing the SDA management at the government level in the Netherlands
primarily under the minister for Development Cooperation had proven to lead
to misunderstandings.
. The quadrilateral dialogue on strategies for sustainable development and
in the form of pre-consultations should continue;
. Participation of all sectors of society, including private enterprise,
should remain a main feature of the SDAs; the national mechanisms have an
important role to play in the organization and promotion of the
participatory processes.
. There should be a diversification of the relations with the various donors
in order to shed the 'Dutchness' of the SDAs;
. Bilateral relations between partner-countries can follow different
mechanisms, but SDA should be at the heart of policy formulation and have an
advisory role in decisions with regard to sustainable development issues.
. As far as the relations in the context of the SDAs are concerned, they
would have to be tailored according to the specific circumstances of each
country. The SDAs were never intended to be straight-jackets, rather they
should function as warm coats;
In response to a question about the relationship between the SDA policy
dialogue and other forms of bilateral support The Netherlands (based on the
prior ministerial consultations) responded that this relationship has to be
elaborated for each country separately. There should not be one single
channel for all contacts, nor a unified management of all support. The
partners should aim at integrated policy-making, in order to avoid diverging
policies and activities.
Co-operation in the area of National Strategies for Sustainable
Development
The meeting decided that the National Mechanisms of the four countries
should co-operate in the preparation of the various national strategies,
insofar as practicable.
Joint presentation of the SDAs at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development,
Johannesburg, 2002.
The meeting decided that the National Mechanisms of the four countries
should co-operate in the preparation of a common presentation of the SDAs at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in
September 2002. Following a suggestion of Benin, the meeting further agreed
to have a process of pre-consultation for the summit, with the aim of
preparing common positions.
Renewal of the Policy Dialogue
The chair proposed to deal with the paper proposed by Ecooperation, with the
exception of the final part (section E), since section E dealt with issues
that would be influenced by the outcome of the debate on the evaluation.
After an introduction by Ecooperation, the meeting agreed to the format
proposed by the national mechanisms for the renewal of the Policy dialogue.
Other matters
The suggestion of Benin to prevent future meetings of the Joint Committee
from coinciding with Ministerial meetings of the CSD was supported by all.
Benin reconfirmed the importance of pre-consultations, including the
preparation of common documents and/or presentations, in the context of
international conferences and agreements
Closure
The meeting was closed at 12.30
List of participants
Benin
H.E. Mr. Luc Gnancadja, Minister of Environment, Cotonou
Mr. Bani Gansé Biobou, Deputy Director of Cabinet, Ministry of Planning
Mr. Rogatien Biaou, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Severin Asse, Permanent Secretary of National Commission of Sustainable
Development
Mr. Gauthier Biaou, Executive Director, Beninese Center for Sustainable
Development
Bhutan
H.E. Mr. Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, Finance Minister, Ministry of Finance,
Thimphu.
H.E. Mr. Lyonpo Om Pradhan, Ambassador to the UN, PMB, New York
Mr. Letho, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Thimphu
Mr. Karma T. Richhen, Assistant Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Thimphu.
Mr. Nim Dorji, Director, Sustainable Development Secretariat, Thimphu.
Costa Rica
H.E. Ms Elizabeth Odio, Minister of Environment and Energy
H.E. Mr Danilo Chaverri, Minister of the Presidency
Ms Zaira Carvajal, Board of Directors, Fundecooperacion
Ms Guaria Vargas, Executive Director, Fundecooperacion
The Netherlands
H.E. Ms Eveline Herfkens, Minister for Development Co-operation
H.E. Mr. Jan Pronk, Minister of Housing, Spatial planning and the
Environment
Mr. Jone Bos, Chairman Ecooperation
Mr. Bram van Ojik, ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ms Dieke Buijs, ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mr Vincent van den Bergen, ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the
Environment
Mr Jan ten Hoopen, Director Ecooperation
Mr Herman Verheij, Ecooperation
Kenmerk
Blad /1
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