Finland stops dev cooperation with 4 countries

Finland decided to stop development cooperation with Afghanistan, Kenya, Mozambique and Myanmar, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release on Thursday.

The four-party alliance government led by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) took the decision to discontinue the cooperation during its tenure as a part of its austerity measures.

Reductions will also be made in multilateral cooperation, humanitarian assistance and development policy loans and investments.

As per the decision, funding for exclusive development cooperation administered by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and development policy loans and investmentswill be reduced by a total of EUR 1,030 million compared to the previous budgetary framework during the government term.

The biggest reductions concern country- and region-specific cooperation, which will see a total reduction of slightly over EUR 500 million during the spending limits period.

The overall amount of multilateral cooperation will decrease by around EUR 160 million. Humanitarian assistance will see a reduction of around EUR 130 million.

The reduction will be made in the exclusive Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget item. Preparations were made to duly respond to Ukraine’s humanitarian needs as part of the overall support to Ukraine. In addition, development policy loans and investments will be cut by EUR 60 million annually.

“The cuts are intended to implement the policies outlined in the Government Programme and take into account the commitments that have already been made. It is better to focus adjustments on clearly defined areas of development cooperation than to make equal cuts across the board,” said Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio.

Finland’s support to Ukraine continues to be unwavering. During this parliamentary term, Ukraine is by far Finland's biggest partner country in development cooperation. Intergovernmental cooperation will also continue in Ethiopia, Nepal, Somalia and Tanzania. In Palestine, cooperation will continue on the basis of a report completed in December, taking into account changes in the operating environment.

The Country Programmes with Kenya and Mozambique will be discontinued in a controlled manner during the current government term. In Asia, the greatest reductions will be made in the development cooperation budgets for Afghanistan and Myanmar. Finland does not cooperate with the governments of these two countries.

In addition to the Country Programmes, adjustments will be made across the board in development cooperation. Last autumn, cuts were made to the Green Climate Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which is a UN organisation.

The reductions will be gradually implemented towards the end of the government term to enable controlled adjustment and efficient planning of development cooperation appropriations.

The current Country Programmes will continue until the end of 2024. In 2024–2025, decisions will be made on the continuation of support allocated by country and on new funding rounds for civil society organisations and development banks.

In the coming years, the exclusive ODA budget item will vary between EUR 600 and EUR 630 million per year.

Additionally, development policy loans and investments amount to EUR 70 million per year.

Ukraine will receive EUR 58 million annually through a separate budgetary item. The priorities for the government term will be specified in the report on Finland’s international economic relations and development cooperation in spring 2024.