A couple of members of our association took part in an event called “So close and yet so far away – Development Politics create new Perspectives” with Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germanys Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, in the “LVR-Horionhouse” of Cologne-Deutz.
The minister – by the way the senior among the federal ministers, holding office since 1998 – declared in her opening speech as well as during the following interesting and partly critical and controversial panel discussion, how important the hereby created continuity is concerning country and government as well as international connections, and that the German Federal Parliament increased the budget of her ministry despite the financial reductions in all other political areas in order to slowly consolidate the federal budget. The concrete spending of money by the ministry and the objectives will be concentrated and selected according to the eight millennium criteria for development aid agreed upon by the United Nations. In order to accomplish more efficiency projects will be internationally coordinated.
The four Cologne Members of Parliament (Dr. Rolf Mützenich, Marti Dörmann, Dr. Lale Akgün and Prof. Karl Lauterbach) who hat invited to this event later sent a letter to the minister and her ministry in which they personally recommended our project. We thank them for this and hope for cooperation with the ministry.