Minister of International Development Hilde F. Johnson will host a meeting of the Nordic development ministers on 14 December at Holmenkollen Park Rica Hotel.

The preparations for the UN summit in 2005 on the Millennium Goals and UN reform are among the topics on the agenda. The development ministers will also discuss the High-Level Forum on Harmonisation and Alignment for Aid Effectiveness in Paris in March 2005, where improving the quality of aid will be one of the main issues. Other topics on the agenda are HIV/AIDS and the feminisation of the pandemic, peace-building, Sudan, Central Africa, the Nordic Development Fund and changes in the Nordic countries’ and the EU’s development policies. The meeting is expected to result in a common Nordic declaration on development.

At their meeting the Nordic development ministers will also discuss whether to launch a common Nordic initiative for the creation of a UN commission on formalisation of the rights of the poor that would look into the formalisation of property rights and land use rights as part of the fight against poverty in developing countries. Norway has been given the task of developing the initiative.

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