The Netherlands plans to organize an international conference next year on corruption in developing countries. It should also be noted that the development cooperation ministers of the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and Norway met July 25 on a Norwegian island and decided that the four of them will work more closely together in the coming months. These are two news items which were carried in the Dutch media yesterday. For your information we have reproduced the English translation of these articles below. The translation of the articles was done by a local news agency.

Netherlands to organise conference on corruption in developing countries

The Netherlands plans to organise an international conference next year on corruption in developing countries. Uganda and Tanzania have asked that such a conference be held. The Netherlands wants to examine whether the way in which development aid is given does too little to discourage corruption in the countries that receive it.

Development Cooperation Minister Evelien Herfkens made that statement yesterday at an informal meeting with her British, Norwegian and German colleagues on the Norwegian island of Utstein.

Recent news items about cheap dispensation of capital from the Netherlands to companies in which the children of former Indonesian president Suharto have large interests have prompted Herfkens to review what is and is not permitted in this area with the justice and finance ministries. She also wants to determine whether there is a double standard in Dutch policy with regard to Third World countries.

British lawyers will also be invited to the conference on corruption, since they are already helping countries demand money from dictators' private accounts. Bankers will also come to the conference to discuss "the ethical side of doing business".

"We have to remain above suspicion ourselves if we want to make an appeal to the governments of countries in which corruption is present," Herfkens added.

"Ethically responsible business does not just mean thinking about child labour or wretched working conditions. No, when corruption involves development aid we need to consider whether we are making any mistakes in the contracts or in the implementation. Then we can also set higher standards for the countries who receive that aid, because they are stealing from their own people," Herfkens said.

Dutch, Norwegian, German and British ministers formulate joint development aid policy

In mid-June the second coalition cabinet decided to turn over a new leaf. Development Cooperation Minister Evelien Herfkens went to a Norwegian island in search of inspiration.

They liked each other right away. Their ideas about what development aid should be were extremely similar. That is why British Minister of State Clare Short and the ministers Hilde Johnson (Norway), Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (Germany) and Eveline Herfkens (the Netherlands) got on the boat at Stavanger. On Sunday they met in a monastery built by Irish and French Augustinians in 1265 because they were dissatisfied with the implementation of all the seemingly wonderful plans for development aid. And yesterday afternoon on the island of Utstein they presented their "conspiracy to get things done". International agreements and programs are all well and good, but what concrete results to they lead to? That is why the four ministers believe the time for action has come.

At the press conference all the dark clouds have disappeared, including those above the fjord. There is a relaxed summer camp atmosphere. The Dutch minister keeps interrupting her Norwegian hostess in what used to be a refectory for silent monks. But that is not a problem among friends. After about fifteen minutes the good intentions of Hilde, Heidemarie, Clare and Eveline are the only topic of discussion. In the coming months they will stick together no matter where in the world they find themselves. And they celebrate their "conspiracy" over a cold pancake with jam.

In concrete terms, the four politicians want Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to cooperate more on development. The four of them are to steer the same course and spread the same gospel at international conferences. That already happened at a conference of the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) where the four countries wanted to start phasing out "conditional" aid. When the four women threatened to walk out of the meeting a few months ago if that did not happen, more countries took their side and the proposal was accepted by the OECD.

In their statement from Utstein, the Minister of State and the three ministers call for better coordination by the donor countries but also for allowing the countries receiving the aid more say in the process. "We need to stop staking our own national claims. In the future I don't want to just visit a Dutch project; in Mali, India, Uganda or wherever I am I want to first ask where the locals want me to go," Herfkens said.

The Norwegian minister Hilde Johnson expects that the effects of the Utstein initiative will eventually be felt. As early as next year, the results in the Netherlands will be scrutinized. "We want to make use of our like-mindedness, which as women we were immediately aware of. In Norway we have an international institute to promote greater openness in bookkeeping and accounting for expenditures. Perhaps we should formulate better regulations on an international level so that aid recipients are no longer confronted with completely different systems for different donors.

"The four of us can start there, and we should also exchange our inspectors, who now carry out on-location inspections of programs and projects, and make better use of the research done by the staffs of the four ministries. Finally, we are in a better position to take a stand at international conferences on behalf of our four countries," Johnson said.

The ministers make it clear that this warning applies to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The social side of restructuring plans for local economies needs more attention from the IMF. This autumn, that message will reach Washington.

The ministers do not see it as a problem that Germany and the United Kingdom are lagging far behind in their investments in the Third World (0.3%, in contrast to 0.8% of the GNP of the Netherlands and Norway). Clare Short and Heidemarie Wieczorek expect to be granted additional funds in the future. Minister Herfkens, who has already secured her budget for more aid to the Balkans, calls out encouragingly to them, "It's our intentions that count here, guys, and we've come a long way with those".

Finally, there is a appeal from the Norwegian island to the Third World itself. Aid is only effective if the countries that receive it are prepared to do more to ensure good government and democracy. In addition, the maintenance of peace is a basic requirement for successful aid. The Minister of State and the three ministers also intend to spread that message in the coming months. Public support in the developed countries for aid programs is declining and for that reason the results of development aid are even more important that in the past, the four believe.

Herfkens says, "Soon, if one of us says it, the international community will know for sure that it is our common policy. That lends more importance to our words. Just watch. Women are more pragmatic, after all. We're on the right track here, far away from the grey suits".

(NRC Handelsblad, Tuesday 27 July 1999)