site.btaDeputy Foreign Minister Dimitrova Attends High Level Meeting of OECD Development Assistance Committee

Deputy Foreign Minister Irena Dimitrova represented Bulgaria at the High Level Meeting of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris on November 15, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported Monday. As a DAC participant since 2018, this was Bulgaria's second participation in the forum, which was held for the first time in person after the COVID-19 pandemic. Attending were representatives of leading international organisations, including the EU, the United Nations, and the World Bank.

The discussions at the DAC High Level Meeting put an emphasis on more active inclusion of partners in the DAC's work and its values and standards. The participants exchanged opinions on the ways to mobilise additional resources for development assistance and adapting that funding to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the Global Biodiversity Framework. Also emphasized was how the ongoing war in Ukraine and the current geopolitical challenges impact the policy on development assistance provision.

In her speech, Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitrova said that Bulgaria considers the DAC a leading international forum for coordinating the policies and harmonising the rules on official development assistance. Though Bulgaria is a relatively new participant in international development co-operation, the country is gradually broadening the range of the geographical and sectoral priorities of its official development assistance.