Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to ensure that the EU’s development cooperation programme is a central focus of Ireland’s EU Presidency; and what he sees as the biggest successes to aim for in this area. [1664/13]

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Ireland’s EU Presidency comes at a crucial period for international development policy, as the international community opens discussion on the framework for global development after 2015, the target date for the Millennium Development Goals. A Special Event will be held at the United Nations in September to review progress on the MDGs and to begin consideration of the post-2015 development framework. A key priority for Ireland’s Presidency will be to ensure that the EU, which collectively provides over 55% of all assistance to developing countries, adopts a strong, coherent position for this UN event and takes a lead in discussions on the future of development policy and practice.

As Presidency, we will also work to forge stronger links in EU policy between humanitarian relief and development aid, drawing on the experience of humanitarian emergencies in recent years. On the basis of the response to the emergency in the Horn of Africa in 2011, we plan to focus consideration on the EU’s approach to disaster risk reduction, helping communities to prepare for and take action to avert the effects of disasters and emergencies.

We look forward to hosting an informal meeting of EU Development Ministers in Dublin on 11/12 February. This will represent the first opportunity for a substantive policy discussion by Ministers of these key development issues, in preparation for Council Conclusions for consideration by the development segment of the Foreign Affairs Council, which will be held in Brussels on 28 May.

Throughout the Presidency, I look forward to highlighting the priority which Ireland attaches to the fight against global hunger and undernutrition. A key theme of our work nationally and as Presidency for the next six months will be to examine and build a stronger understanding of the linkages between hunger, nutrition and the impact of climate change on the poorest countries in the world. This will be the theme of the high-level international conference to be held in Dublin in April 2013, which will bring together international policy makers and representatives of communities across the developing world.