|
High-Level Donor Pledging Conference for the Enhanced IF:
Stockholm, 25 September 2007:
On 25 September, the Government of Sweden hosted a
conference to mobilize international financial support for the
Enhanced IF. The Conference was the culmination of months of
preparatory work not only by the host but also by other IF
stakeholders such as Canada and the UK as well as others in the EIF
team. The Conference was jointly chaired by Sweden's Ministers
for International Development Co-operation (Ms Gunilla Carlsson) and
for Foreign Trade (Ms Ewa Bjorling), respectively. The Conference
brought together representatives of some 38 donors, the six IF
Agencies, as well as 5 LDCs (the chair and the three LDC interim
Board members (Lesotho, Rwanda, Senegal and Yemen), as well as the
previous LDC coordinator at the WTO, Zambia).
Of the 38 donors, 22 spoke and made concrete pledges
or announced full intentions to do so. Based on the written pledges
received, the target set for the first two years of US$ 100
million for the replenishment has been over-subscribed by about US$
10 million. A total of around US$ 170 million for the full five
years has been pledged. This represents about 75 per cent of the
total target of US$ 250 million for the five years. Given the
flexibility that donors have signalled, there is confidence that the
full funding target for the period 2007–2011 will be met. These
figures all relate to the multilateral IF Trust Fund, not to
additional bilateral contributions that donors may make in future to
projects derived from the IF process.
The Chairpersons' statement at the end of the
Conference invited the interim Board to make this initiative now
fully operational.
The level of attendance at the Pledging Conference
and the interventions made, as well as its pledging success all are
good measuring sticks of how awareness of, and commitment to, the
IF from beneficiaries and donors alike have increased since the IF
was launched 10 years ago.
Press
statement (pdf - 30K)
Please also refer to the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs'
website:
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2059
Page last updated on
28 September 2007
|
