On Monday 26 June 2017, the Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, Romain Schneider, presented the 2016 annual report to the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Cooperation and Immigration of the Chamber of Deputies.
According to the annual report on Luxembourgish cooperation and humanitarian action, the Grand Duchy spends 1.02% of gross national income (GNI) on official development assistance (ODA).
At an international level, Luxembourg confirms its position among the six donors that respect the commitment to maintain ODA at or above 0.7% of GNI, along with Germany, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
It should be noted that in 2016, Luxembourg was the second most generous contributor of ODA to OECD countries, with a total of €353,143,813, after Norway (1.11% of GNI).
2016 was a year of continuing and complex humanitarian crises in which the international community struggled to find responsive responses, as in Syria and neighbouring countries, but also in Yemen, the Central African Republic, the Horn of Africa and Iraq.
2016 was also the year for several key international meetings for the Luxembourg Cooperation, including the World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul on 23 and 24 May 2016, in which Luxembourg was represented by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, and the Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, Romain Schneider. The objective of the summit- the first high-level UN meeting to deal exclusively with global humanitarian assistance- was to identify ways to respond more effectively to growing humanitarian needs. Luxembourg made 42 individual commitments and 3 joint commitments covering both financial and political commitments at the summit.
From 28 November to 1 December 2016, in Nairobi, Luxembourg participated in the second high-level meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, which brought together Heads of State and Government, ministers, international organisations, businesses and civil society.
The annual report presents development cooperation with the 7 partner countries of Luxembourg (Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Nicaragua and Laos). The year 2016 was a pivotal year for Luxembourg's cooperation with the start of a new generation of Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICPs).
In 2016, the main beneficiaries of Luxembourg humanitarian assistance were Syria, South Sudan, CAR, Iraq, Mali, Niger, DRC, Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti and Nepal, West Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region also benefited from Luxembourg assistance in a multi-country approach. Other beneficiary countries were the Philippines, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Somalia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Burundi and Burkina Faso.
