Interministerial Committee for Development Cooperation

The Law of 9 May 2012 amending the amended law of 6 January 1996 on development cooperation and humanitarian action defines the responsibilities of the Interministerial Committee for Development Cooperation (ICDC). It has the remit of giving its opinion on the broad outlines of development cooperation policy and the coherence of development policies (Article 50). The law also asks the government to submit an annual report to the Chamber of Deputies on the work of the Committee, including the issue of the coherence of development policies (Article 6). The Grand Ducal Regulation of 7 August 2012 lays down the make-up and mode of operation of the Interministerial Committee for Development Cooperation.

In 2022, the ICDC met five times under the chairmanship of the Director for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs. In addition to the routine updating on the flagship activities of the Luxembourg Development Cooperation at each meeting, including, in particular, the reorientations of projects and programmes as a result of the pandemic, the work of the ICDC placed special emphasis on policy coherence.

One of the first meetings of the ICDC presented the Luxembourg Development Cooperation’s support to Ukraine, either through financial contributions or contributions in kind through emergency.lu. In addition, there are the higher education initiatives for Ukrainian students and initiatives by the European Investment Bank in favour of Ukraine.

Representatives of the NGDOs’ Cercle were invited to the ICDC’s meetings for all discussions on policy coherence, and one of the meetings was facilitated by the Cercle. This was held in October with a presentation (in English) by CONCORD of the report “A test of the EU’s integrity towards the 2030 Agenda: the status of policy coherence for sustainable development”.

As in the previous year, a joint meeting between the ICDC and the Interdepartmental Commission on Sustainable Development (ICSD) was held. The joint session was facilitated by two experts from the OECD who presented the “Policy coherence on sustainable development in Luxembourg” project. Over a 24-month period this project will make it possible to work on the following aims: (a) strengthening Luxembourg government capacities to identify synergies, manage policy trade-offs and avoid negative spillovers when implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs); and (b) improving understanding among policy makers and key stakeholders on how to apply policy coherence and integrated policy-making in practice to achieve the SDGs in Luxembourg and abroad. Due to diary clashes, the results of this workshop will not be presented until 31 January 2023, at the first joint meeting of the ICDC and the ICSD.

One of the meetings was dedicated to the D4D Hub, with a presentation of the European Center for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). The presentation included the European Commission’s investment strategy for connectivity in the broad sense, which is described by some as a European response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The presentation also addressed the question of the link between the Global Gateway and the D4D Hub, in terms of the role that the platform could play in the implementation of the ambitious Global Gateway strategy.

Finally, it should be noted that the meeting of 8 July 2022 was the last meeting chaired by Manuel Tonnar, who left office as President of the ICDC on 1 September. Manuel Tonnar was replaced in the post by Christophe Schiltz.