The Minister for National Planning & Monitoring has announced that the Government is revising the current Development Cooperation Policy of our Government.
“Extensive consultations with citizens, the private sector and government stakeholders across the country, in different fora during the course of 2018, have informed me and my department of the direction we need to take to bring prosperity and resilience to all people in Papua New Guinea. These inputs have been captured in our next national Medium Term Development Plan 3 (2018-2022),” said Minister Richard Maru.
“For us to achieve these plans we need everyone working in unison.
“Development cooperation has been an essential part of Papua New Guinea’s overall development efforts since independence. However, as we move from aid dependence to economic cooperation with our partner countries, we need new approaches to guide us in how we apply international resources to support the achievement of our development aspirations.
“I therefore instructed a review and revision to the country’s Development Cooperation Policy, which provides guidance in the coordination of Development Partner support to our country.
“This is to ensure the policy is consistent and relevant to the current operating environment, global best practices, and changing donor landscape; to therefore ensure maximum value and impact is achieved for both the country and development partners.”
In addition, Maru said the revised policy considers global commitments including Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, which Papua New Guinea is signatory to, which similarly to the MTDP recognises the need for broader and inclusive partnerships.
“The revised Development Cooperation Policy addresses the challenges the country has experienced in coordinating resources to date and gives clear guidance of the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder, the process and steps to follow when designing, implementing, monitoring, reporting and evaluating a project and the dialogue mechanisms to ensure coordination and cooperation across partners,” stated the Minister.
“The overarching goal of the Development Cooperation Policy is to ensure that development cooperation resources make the maximum possible contribution to the achievement of PNG’s development goals, as enshrined in the MTDP 3 (2018-2022), guided by principles of responsible, sustainable, inclusive development and PNG’s Constitutional Goals and Directives.
“I look forward to all of us across government, partners and all of society cooperating to achieve the MTDP3 objectives and, thereby, increasing prosperity and opportunities for the people of PNG.
“The revised Development Cooperation Policy will be launched alongside the MTDP3.”
(Minister for National Planning & Monitoring, Richard Maru)