CONTACT: Jen Millikin, The German Marshall Fund of the United States
(202) 683-2614, jmillikin@gmfus.org

Report available at www.gmfus.org/taskforce

Transatlantic Taskforce Releases Report on Development:

Toward a Brighter World: A Transatlantic Call for Renewed Leadership and Partnerships in Global Development

WASHINGTON (February 10, 2009) -- The Transatlantic Taskforce on Development, a group comprising 24 North American and European leaders in development, today urged renewed leadership and partnerships in global development to political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

"In a globalized world undergoing rapid transformation, a focus on development is of central importance", said Gunilla Carlsson, the Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation. "Transatlantic cooperation in the area of development must be renewed with developing countries and a common agenda reformulated in light of current global challenges."

Created in March 2008 by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development convened a diverse group of government, NGO, and private-sector professionals to examine four priority challenges in development: development, democracy, and security; climate change; food security; and effective support for development.

Jim Kolbe, a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at GMF and a former United States Congressman, added, "While there is no panacea for stimulating development, especially in today's challenging global environment, we hope this report will help provide a roadmap for new ways of working together in partnership, and new policy areas to pursue."

This is the first such endeavor to review development by a transatlantic group. Led by Taskforce Co-chairs Gunilla Carlsson and Jim Kolbe, the Taskforce developed a set of recommendations for policy leaders and development professionals across a wide spectrum of areas. Among the report's major recommendations are:

• Development, Democracy, and Security: Transatlantic policy makers should bridge the security-development "divide", and be clear on roles and responsibilities. The new U.S. administration should improve the autonomy and vitality of USAID. Support for democracy should be long-term and strategic and much broader than elections, prioritizing rule of law, good governance, and checks and balances.

• Climate Change: A new global post-Kyoto deal is needed, and must link the development and climate change agendas to be effective. Official funding for climate change programs should be in addition to, not instead of, existing development budgets, and should follow the Paris principles on aid effectiveness but other sources of funding will also be essential.

• Food Security: We must get the Doha Development Round back on track and concluded. The United States and EU should eliminate or significantly reduce their domestic agricultural and biofuel subsidies. Developing countries should eliminate their own barriers to trade (South - South) as a means to boost food security. Policy makers should prioritize investment in agriculture to increase production, including in infrastructure, including research and development, sustainable agricultural practices, access to credit and markets, extension services and by exploring crop-specific solutions, including GMOs.

• Effective Support for Development: Transparency and accountability in development assistance should be boosted at the local, national, and international levels with a particular focus on stimulating local demand for accountability in developing countries. Development assistance should be managed for results and promote country ownership. Growth of the private sector and the formal economy should be emphasized.

In addition to targeted recommendations for action on each of the priority challenges, the Taskforce underscores the importance of a policy environment based on trust and inclusion among developed and developing countries, a commitment to multilateral solutions, and greater donor policy coherence across the Atlantic."

Development mattersbecause it affects us all and should remain a focus even in turbulent times. The global financial and economic crises will hit the poorest in developing world hard. In response, the report states, "Leadership is never easy, but it is most challenging - and most needed - when times are difficult. Now is the time for powerful leadership to preserve and defend courageously the hard-won development gains of recent decades. Now is the time for both sides of the Atlantic to strengthen and deepen their partnerships with the developing world."

The Taskforce consists of 24 members from the United States, Canada, and Europe. Taskforce member countries have a joint population of 740 million people, account for around half of all global trade, and provide more than 85 percent of Official Development Assistance (ODA). The Taskforce membership felt it was particularly important for these countries to assess policies and practices with the intention to improve global development outcomes.

The Taskforce project is managed by Alice Poole, Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. For the full report and additional information regarding the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development, please visit www.gmfus.org/taskforce .

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between North America and Europe.

GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working on transatlantic issues, by convening leaders to discuss the most pressing transatlantic themes, and by examining ways in which transatlantic cooperation can address a variety of global policy challenges. In addition, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democracies.

Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany on the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Plan as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has seven offices in Europe: Berlin, Bratislava, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, and Bucharest.