Government Donor Dialogue Newsletter,
ISSUE No. 32, Monthly Newsletter - October 2009
A Joint Effort of the Donor Technical Secretariat and the Department of Strategy and Donor Coordination

On 19 October 2009, the European Commission and the Swedish EU Presidency held a joint conference on Effective Support for Enlargement in Brussels. The aim was to examine aspects of aid effectiveness, paying attention to the EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) given its decisive role in preparing the Western Balkan countries for their future EU membership. The conference addressed: Effective assistance for reforms, discussing how better results can be achieved through better planning and implementation of financial assistance; Adequate capacity for absorbing financial assistance, devoting particular attention to the sound preparation of countries for the implementation of the Regional, Human Resources and Rural Development Components of IPA; sector strategies in programming of assistance, taking stock of the progress made in the donor co-ordination process; Adapting financial instruments to current challenges, focusing on the needs of the countries and the impact of the current global crisis.