Overview 2010

Presidencies

Website: "Spanish Presidency of the European Union"
Website: "Belgian Presidency of the European Union" 

Key events in the area of Development Cooperation (first semester of 2010)

  • Global Health High Level Meeting gathering EU Ministers of Health and Development (Brussels, February 2010)
  • Informal meeting of EU Development Ministers (La Granja, Segovia, 17-18 February 2010)
  • III World Coffee Conference (Guatemala City, 1-4 March 2010)
  • Meeting of the Directors of EU Development Agencies (Toledo, 16-17 March 2010)
  • 2010 World Rubber Summit
  • ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Tenerife, 27 March - 1 April 2010)
  • EU-US High Level Consultative Group on Development Cooperation (Madrid, 9 April 2010)
  • Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) (New York, April/May 2010)
  • UN ECOSOC High Level meeting (New York, Spring 2010)
  • FAC/Development Ministers (10-11 May 2010, Brussels)
  • EU-LAC Summit (Madrid, 18 May 2008), with development issues prepared in a High Level Event on Development in LAC region (Madrid, 16 May 2010)
  • EU-US Summit (Madrid, 24-25 May 2010)
  • ACP-EU Joint Ministerial Council + Development Finance Committee
    (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 3-4 June 2010)
  • FAC/Development Ministers (Luxembourg, 14-15 June 2010)
  • Global Health: High Level Meeting of EU Ministers of Health and Development (Brussels, June 2010, tbc)
  • UN ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review - Joint Cooperation Forum (New York, 28 June - 2 July 2010)
  • Development Directors-general meeting (Brussels, 6-7 July 2010)
  • Joint Cooperation Council with South Africa (Pretoria, 15 September 2010)
  • MDG High-Level Plenary Meeting (New York, 20-22 September 2010)
  • EU-South Africa Summit (Brussels, 28 September 2010)
  • ACP-EU Joint Ministerial Trade Committee (October, tbc)
  • ASEM Summit (Brussels, 4-5 October 2010)
  • Informal Meeting of EU Development Ministers (Brussels, 21-22 October 2010)
  • Africa-EU Summit (Libya, 29-30 November 2010)
  • UNFCC COP-16 (Cancun, 29 November - 10 December 2010)
  • ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Kinshasa, 2-5 December 2010)
  • European Development Days (Brussels, 6-7 December 2010)
  • FAC/Development Ministers session (Brussels, 9 December 2010)

 Key policy issues

The specific programme of each presidency is set out on its website. The Belgian Programme is part of an 18-month programme with Spain and Hungary.

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

  • Monitoring compliance with ODA commitments, in particular the EU's intermediate collective target of 0.56% of GNI by 2010.
  • Aid effectiveness, with a view to the High level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (Seoul 2011).
  • Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including the preparation of the High Level Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (September 2010).
  • Strengthening of health systems and the preparation of the EU Gender Equality and Woman Empowerment Action Plan for European development policies.
  • Implementation the EU commitments on environment made at relevant conferences.
  • Conclusion of the second revision of the Cotonou Agreement.
  • Work on the conclusion and follow-up of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
  • Strengthening the transatlantic partnership on development cooperation and promoting cooperation with emerging donors.