Den borgerlige norske regering hæver bistanden med en milliard kroner i 2015 men vil stå for mere af arbejdet selv. Samtidig skæres antallet af samarbejdslande fra 116 til 84, hvoraf 12 bliver særligt prioriteret.
BRUXELLES, 9 October (UNRIC): The Norwegian government has increased its development aid budget, but at the same time decreased its direct contributions to the UN and its agencies by 900 million Norwegian Kronor or $140 million.
UNICEF is the hardest hit of the UN agencies, losing almost half of the Norwegian contribution, which will be $ 80 million according to the 2015 budget proposal. Contributions to the UNDP are also cut significantly or by $ 8 million.
“What matters most is what we can achieve with the money we allocate, that Norwegian development aid works and that we obtain concrete results,” said Foreign Minister Mr. Børge Brende.
Norway was the fourth largest contributor to the UN System in 2010 according to its Permanent Mission to the UN.
In its budget proposal the government proposes an overall increase in the development budget to NOK 32.5 billion or $ 5 billion in 2015 (svarer til 29,3 milliarder DKK). This is an increase of more than NOK 1 billion ($ 155 million) compared to 2014.
“Some of the cuts are clearly a signal to the UN that the quality and reporting are not good enough,” Mr. Rune Arctander, assistant Secretary-General of the Norwegian United Nations Association told the NTB news agency.
Education, humanitarian aid, health and vaccines, business development, climate measures and human rights are given priority.
“Our development policy is designed to promote economic development, democratisation, implementation of human rights, good governance and measures that can lift people out of poverty for good,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Brende.
The number of countries receiving Norwegian Development Aid will also be cut significantly or from 116 to 84. 12 countries have been designated as “the focus” of Norwegian Development Cooperation: Afghanistan, Haiti, Mali, Palestinie, Somalia, South-Sudan, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nepal and Tanzania.
A Centre-Right government under the leadership of Prime Minister Ms. Erna Solberg took over from the long serving Social Democratic government of Mr. Jens Stoltenberg in October 2013 after elections to the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament.
