The Minister for National Planning & Monitoring Richard Maru has announced on Friday, July 6, that the Government is revising the current Development Cooperation Policy to support achievement of the Medium Term Development Plan 3 (2018-2022).
In a statement released today July 9, Minister Maru said, extensive consultations with citizens, the private sector and government stakeholders across the country, in different fora during the course of 2018, have informed him and his department of the direction they 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). 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. Mr Maru said, moving from aid dependence to economic cooperation with partner countries, new approaches are needed to guide the Government in how international resources are applied to support the achievement of PNG’s 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.” Minister Maru said.
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.
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.
Source: Press Release
