Ingrid Brockov at the Tidewater Meeting of Ministers for International Cooperation: The private sector is a key source of innovations, investments and…

On 16-17 June 2021, the 52nd Informal Meeting of the Ministers of the member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee took place. The meeting bears the name Tidewater, which is the name of the town in the USA where the first meeting of the development cooperation ministers took place in 1968. This year's meeting was convened jointly by the Irish Overseas Development Cooperation Minister Colm Brophy, and the Committee Chair Susanna Moorehead. The Slovak Republic was represented at the meeting by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Ingrid Brockov.

The theme of this year's Tidewater meeting was a green and fair recovery in the developing world after the ongoing crisis. The meeting addressed two key current framework challenges in international development: socio-economic recovery through development cooperation and the fight against the undesirable causes and consequences of climate change in order to protect the environment and biodiversity. The participants also recalled that with regard to modern international development cooperation, which is coordinated by the OECD Development Assistance Committee, we are commemorating the 60th anniversary of the organisation during this period.

As Ingrid Brockov stated: 'We are aware that the pandemic crisis in the world is not yet over and our developing partner countries are at risk of economic, social and health care collapse. From the viewpoint of development aid providers, it is crucial to give serious weight to all opportunities for international political, health and economic solidarity.' State Secretary Brockov also provided information about the scale of humanitarian aid which the Slovak Republic has provided during the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Secretary Brockov also expressed her appreciation for the importance of joint donor efforts at the European Union level in the framework of the Team Europe initiatives, as well as the importance of strong multilateral development organizations for otherwise remote regions of the world, especially in Africa. She also highlighted the key role of non-governmental development organizations and other civil society organizations not only in managing the COVID-19 pandemic but especially in building sustainable development: 'The private sector is, primarily, a key source of innovations, investments and economic sustainability in development cooperation.'

The second part of the event focused on the use of development cooperation to improve the climate and environmental sustainability in developing countries. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrates that the prosperity and security of nations is to a large extent also conditioned by foreign influences. Despite its small share in public finances, development diplomacy plays an important role in mitigating the consequences of crisis situations.

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Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic published this content on 17 June 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 19 June 2021 19:48:02 UTC.

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Ingrid Brockov at the Tidewater Meeting of Ministers for International Cooperation: The private sector is a key source of innovations, investments and...