USAID, Russia Collaborate on Development Aid
On May 27-28, 2008, USAID participated in an international workshop organized jointly by the Russian Ministry of Finance and the World Bank, in coordination with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to review development aid statistics and reporting systems in terms of Russia’s status as an emerging donor country. USAID/Russia Mission Director Leon “Skip” Waskin presented on the U.S. Government perspective.
Russian government officials confirmed their intent to develop Russia’s systems in accordance with OECD’s Development Assistance Committee requirements and to double development aid from the 2007 level of $210 million to $400-500 million in the future. Russian Deputy Minister of Finance Dmitri Pankin said that while the Government decides what form its bilateral assistance program will take, the primary delivery mechanism will be through multilateral institutions for now.
On May 29, 2008 representatives from USAID, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), and Germany’s Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) met with senior officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to brainstorm about further cooperation on Russia’s development assistance planning. The meeting followed up on visits by senior MFA officials to Washington, London and Berlin in 2007-2008. The donors agree to participate in a planned MFA workshop on international experience in development aid and discussed cooperating with Russia in preparation for the July 2008 G8 Summit in Japan and Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness slated for September in Ghana.
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| USAID/Russia Mission Director Skip Waskin (right) presents at the World Bank workshop. |
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