Norway tops development assistance ranking list

Norway currently ranks first in the world in terms of the percentage of gross national income (GNI) allocated to Official Development Assistance (ODA). According to preliminary OECD figures, Norway allocated 0.92 per cent of its GNI to ODA in 2003. The new figures also show that the OECD countries’ aid volume has increased by 11 per cent in the course of the last two years, totalling USD 68.5 billion in 2003.

The Norwegian Minister of International Development is attending the annual High Level Meeting of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) on 15 and 16 April. The DAC is a key forum for mobilising development assistance from the OECD countries, discussing development co-operation policy and improving aid co-ordination and effectiveness. The DAC also adopts guidelines for what the OECD countries can define and report as Official Development Assistance (ODA). The agenda includes a number of important issues, such as reviewing donor countries’ progress towards the UN approved Millennium Development Goals, including the reduction of world poverty by 50 per cent by 2015. According to preliminary figures, the OECD countries’ aid volume has increased by 11 per cent in the course of the last two years, totalling USD 68.5 billion in 2003. Norway currently ranks first in the world in terms of the percentage of GNI allocated to ODA, which was 0.92 per cent in 2003.

Another important issue to be discussed at the meeting is the the security and development interface, including support for security sector reform in developing countries. The High Level Meeting will also discuss the degree to which activities related to preventing conflict and promoting peace and security may be reported as ODA. The question of how to count flows of aid for projects that will earn Certified Emission Receipts for donor countries under the Clean Development Mechanism will also be considered.

The meeting will discuss the OECD countries’ progress in improving their aid effectiveness and adapting their assistance more closely to the developing countries’ own poverty reduction strategies.

Norway will urge other donor countries to continue their efforts to achieve the UN target of allocating at least 0.7 per cent of GNI to ODA. Norway will also emphasise that the principles for what can be counted as ODA must be consistent with the poverty reduction objective of ODA. We must safeguard the integrity and credibility of ODA. This also applies to support for security sector reform and global environmental measures.

Press contact: Head of Information Espen Gullikstad, mobile phone: 91 70 81 22