OFID to host 2016 Arab-DAC Dialogue on Development and other high-level meetings

Vienna, Austria. On January 18, 2016, OFID will host the 2016 Arab-Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Dialogue on Development at its HQ in Vienna. This will bring together high-level representatives from bilateral and multilateral providers of development cooperation to discuss how to support achievement of the SDGs, particularly in the areas of development finance, partnerships and building on the results from the ACG-DAC Task Force on Energy. Dialogues will look to identify opportunities for collaboration and to agree on next steps and joint actions.

Arab countries and institutions are the most significant sources of development finance outside of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and relations between the DAC and Arab countries and institutions continue to intensify. Arab-DAC Dialogues on Development are now being held annually with monitoring of implementation of agreed actions. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the first Participant in the DAC in 2014, which enables the UAE to attend DAC meetings and contribute to DAC activities without being a full member of the Committee. A growing number of Arab Coordination Group (ACG) institutions report their development finance statistics to the OECD.

The upcoming Arab-DAC Dialogue on Development follows on from several successful meetings held in recent years in Kuwait, London and Paris. It provides a platform for the two communities to exchange ideas, learn from each other’s experiences, share good practice and identify opportunities for joint action on important development issues. It also helps to improve co-ordination among Arab and DAC providers of development co-operation which, in turn, improves co-ordination and ensures more effective support of developing countries’ efforts to achieve sustainable development goals.

Preceeding the dialogues, OFID will host the 15th Meeting of the Heads of Institutions of the Coordination Group (CG) on January 17. Aims of the meeting are to compile a declaration on the 2030 development agenda. A Contribution Agreement for the Arab Development Portal (Phase III) will also be signed between OFID Director-General Suleiman J Al-Herbish, on behalf of the CG, and Ms Sima Bahous, Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP.