Buenos Aires – Around 30 CSO representatives, government officials and the academe, gathered in a two-day multi-stakeholder consultation to discuss and come up with a common agenda of Argentine’s civil society on the issue of Aid Effectiveness towards Development Effectiveness in Argentine’s context on August 2 and 3.
Ambassador Oscar Laborde from the Chancellery’s Consultative Body for Civil Society confirmed the government’s adherence to the PD and AAA principles and pointed out, that there is a need to evaluate official processes. He indicated government’s openness to establish a more regular dialogue with civil society on these issues.
CSOs raised questions on the inaccessibility of information to the public, non inclusive official processes on aid and development issues and concretely also on the plans and preparations of the government for the upcoming HLF4. Lack of access to information on official processes related to the aid effectiveness agenda has been noted as a significant obstacle to inclusive processes. Even CSOs working on aid and development find it a real challenge to get access to information.
In response, government officials present committed to discuss the presented CSO agenda and establish dialogue mechanisms with other development actors. They also expressed interest to work on a common agenda for the HLF4. As a positive sign a concrete date for continuing dialogue was set with Julia Levi, the Director of the Department for International Cooperation, who will also be part of the government’s delegation to Busan.
Alberto Croce, President of SES, (Sustentabilidad Educación Solidaridad), presented an analysis of the disastrous impact of globalization and the US-led neo liberal policies on the Argentine economy, which aggravates poverty, leading to widening social gaps within Argentine society. He also gave an overview on initiatives by Latin American countries to build self determined economical relations through the development of horizontal South South Cooperation and independent finance institutions, like Banco del Sur and establish economical cooperation like Mercosur and Unasur.
On the other hand, Osvaldo Elissetche of MRECIC, (Representación Especial para la Integración Económica Regional y la Participación Social), says the Argentine government as a receptor of aid signed the PD as well as the AAA and adheres also to these principles, but the government does not see itself as just a traditional receptor of aid, but aims to be a protagonist of horizontal South South Cooperation.
Argentina is classified as a middle income country and has since 1979 been developing South South Cooperation mainly with its immediate neighboring countries and the Caribbean, mostly Haiti.
The two-day event was hosted by ENCUENTRO, (Encuentro de Entidades No Gubernamentales para el Desarollo) and co-organized by IBON/Reality of Aid’s country outreach program, held at Buenos Aires, Argentina last August 2 and 3.