Interministerial committee for development cooperation

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 2023, the ICDC met six times. In addition to the routine updating on the flagship activities of Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation at each meeting, the work of the ICDC placed special emphasis on policy coherence.

The first ICDC meeting in 2023 was a joint meeting between the ICDC and Interdepartmental Commission on Sustainable Development (IFSD) meeting, with a presentation of the OECD’s findings on the coherence of policies for sustainable development. Representatives of the Cercle des ONGD were invited to the ICDC’s meetings for all discussions on policy coherence, and one of the meetings was facilitated by the Cercle.

Other meetings focused on the feminist foreign policy, in order to promote gender equality in international and European institutions, as well as in agreements with Luxembourg’s partner countries, by strengthening women’s access to work and education, as well as access to health services, for example.

The ICDC also discussed the cultural dimension in sustainable development and demonstrated that culture and access to culture can help meet the Sustainable Development Goals, by making more people aware of diverse issues.

A meeting of the ICDC was facilitated by the Cercle des ONGD; the topic of this year’s meeting was the presentation by SOS Faim of the report “West Africa - European Union: sowing the seeds of equitable and sustainable agricultural cooperation and exchange between West Africa and the European Union.”