Overview 2009

Presidencies

The Council is chaired by the Czech Republic (first semester) and by Sweden (second semester).

Website: "Czech Presidency of the European Union"
Website: "Swedish Presidency of the European Union"

Key events in the area of Development Cooperation

  • High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All (Madrid, 26-27 January 2009)
  • Informal meeting of EU development ministers (Prague, 29-30 January 2009)
  • 2009 World Sustainable Energy Days (Wels, Austria - 25-27 February 2009)
  • Informal meeting of the Humanitarian Aid Committee (HAC) (Prague, 5-6 March 2009)
  • World Water Forum 5 (Istanbul, 16-20 March 2009)
  • 22nd Governing Council of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) (Nairobi, 30 March-3 April 2009)
  • 42nd UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD) (New York, 30 March-4 April 2009)
  • ACP-EC Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Prague, 1-9 April 2009)
  • G-20 + meeting of Heads of State on the Financial Crisis (London, 2 April 2009)
  • UN-ECOSOC Special high-level meetings with the Bretton Woods Institutions, the WTO and UNCTAD ("Spring meeting") (New York, 21 April 2009)
  • 17th UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) (New York, 4-15 May 2009)
  • ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee (Brussels, 7 May 2009)
  • Meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council/Development Ministers (Brussels, 18-19 May 2009)
  • ACP-EC Council of Ministers (Brussels, 28-29 May 2009)
  • II ISDR Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (Geneva,16-18 June 2009)
  • United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development (New York, 24-26 June 2009)
  • High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development in the margins of UNGA (New York, September 2009)
  • The ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (Buenos Aires 22 September - 2 October 2009)
  • European Development Days (Stockholm, 21-23 October 2009)
  • ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Luanda, 28 November - 3 December 2009)
  • Meeting of the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council/Development Ministers (Brussels, November 2009)
  • COP15 - United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009)

Key policy issues

The specific programme of each presidency is set out on its website. The Swedish Programme is part of an 18-month programme with France and the Czech Republic.

Based on these programmes, the main challenges for the Council in the second half of 2009 in the area of development can be summarised as follows:

  1. Climate change
  2. Impact of the economic and financial crisis on developming countries
  3. Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
  4. EU support for democracy-building in external relations
  5. Policy coherence for development
  6. Aid effectiveness