EU-US Development Dialogue
In November 2009, the leaders of the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) met in Washington
(1) to renew their global partnership and to set a course for enhanced cooperation that will address bilateral, regional and global challenges based on their shared values of freedom, democracy, respect for international law, human rights and the rule of law.
Among other things, the EU and the US have agreed to reinvigorate their development dialogue and cooperation in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of their development assistance. In the face of growing challenges to efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), sustainable economic growth and poverty eradication, it is more important than ever for the EU and the US, the leading providers of development assistance, to work together on some of the world’s most pressing development issues.
The EU and the US have therefore agreed to re-launch the High Level Consultative Group on Development and to hold annual meetings at ministerial level to advance and guide their cooperation at policy level as well as the achievement of results in the field.
The two key actors want to intensify their development policy dialogue and increase cooperation in practical ways to achieve lasting results. In order to improve aid effectiveness, they will accelerate implementation of their commitments under the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action, with a strong focus on in-country implementation. They will focus their initial cooperative efforts on three common priorities: food security and agricultural development, climate change and the Millennium Development Goals.
A meeting of the EU-US High Level Consultative Group on Development Cooperation is held in Washington on 25 April 2010.
(1) EU-US Summit, Washington, 3 November 2009 (doc. 15352/09)