Donors, recipients agree to form new global aid partnership

BUSAN, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- Policymakers from about 160 nations agreed to establish a new worldwide partnership to make aid more effective at a global forum, officials said Thursday, but their pledges were only moderate as major donors come under budgetary pressure amid economic uncertainty. Wrapping up the three-day Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in the South Korean port city of Busan, delegates adopted a declaration that will "establish a new, inclusive and representative Global Partnership" to seek better ways to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in annual development aid. A lack of binding commitments in the outcome document, however, put a dampener on the Busan conference. "We still have a lot of work to do," said Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the OECD, the intergovernmental policy institute assessing and monitoring aid quality. "The document here is really a roadmap. It is not the end of the process, but it is the beginning of the process," Gurria told reporters at the end of the conference. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria speaks during the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan on Dec. 1. (Yonhap) The Busan conference brought together more than 3,000 delegates, including President Lee Myung-bak, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It was the largest follow-up since the event was launched in Paris in 2005 to gauge political commitments by both donors and recipients to improve the quality of aid. The world's premier aid forum came at a sensitive time as Europe's worsening debt crisis is pushing the world economy toward another crisis following the one in 2008. Gurria acknowledged that the current economic woes will have a negative impact on aid flows. Asked whether the global economic crisis puts a strain on aid, Gurria replied, "Yes, but we should not let that happen." South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik told the forum, "There will be those who question why we even have to help others when the economy is in such bad shape." "However, we need to cast the 'light of humanism' higher especially in times of hardships," Kim said. The 12-page outcome document said, "We will establish a new, inclusive and representative Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation to support and ensure accountability for the implementation of commitments at the political level." The new aid partnership "will offer an open platform that embraces diversity, providing a forum for the exchange of knowledge and the regular review of progress," it said. However, the document fell short of providing details of the new partnership, such as when and how it will establish the new aid monitoring mechanism. "The principles, commitments and actions agreed to in the outcome document in Busan shall be the reference for South-South partners on a voluntary basis," it said, referring to an aid partnership between emerging nations such as China and Brazil and developing countries. How to bring China, an increasingly powerful player in global development aid, into the club of major donors was one of the key issues at the Busan conference. Major donors have urged China to make its foreign assistance more transparent, but Beijing is apparently reluctant to do so. Civic aid groups expressed regret that the deal for a new partnership is not a binding commitment. "There's too much unfinished business here," said Gregory Adams of an international aid agency Oxfam. Adams accused donors of putting off important decisions about how to improve aid. "One billion poor people are waiting for more than words, they want measurable action," Adams said. BetterAid, a coalition of more than 1,000 aid groups, also said, "The deal struck at the world's biggest-ever development cooperation meeting will only live up to its historic potential if nations follow through on their promises." In a statement, BetterAid expressed "regret that the agreement apparently does not include binding commitments or specific actions." On Wednesday, Clinton told developing nations that they need to be wary of some donor nations which may be more interested in extracting resources than fostering development. "Emerging countries need to be smart, sharp, because donor countries can be interested more in extracting your resources than building your capacity," Clinton told the aid forum. "Quick fixes will not produce sustainable growth," Clinton said, urging recipient nations to be "smart shoppers." Clinton did not mention China by name, but the remarks were apparently aimed at Beijing, which has stepped up aid efforts around the world, particularly in Africa. In a speech, the U.N. chief said governments must not let the global economic crisis keep them from supporting those most in need. "Do not let this economic crisis, do not let short-term austerity deflect you from your long-term commitment to the world's poorest people," Ban said. "Cutting aid will not balance your budgets. But it will hurt the poor, the most vulnerable of the human family." Hosting the Busan conference is a symbolic occasion for South Korea, which achieved what is considered an economic miracle, rising from the rubble of the 1950-53 Korean War to become a vibrant democracy within the ranks of the OECD. South Korea plans to nearly triple its official development aid (ODA) to about US$3 billion by 2015. The ODA is designed to help Asian, African and Latin American countries establish economic and industrial infrastructure. The sharp increase in international development aid is part of South Korea's efforts to give back after receiving help from the international community to rebuild its economy following the Korean War, Seoul officials said. kdh@yna.co.kr (END)