European Cooperation

AFD has been building numerous partnerships at the international level for several years now. The European Commission is one of our most important partners and AFD has a Representation Office to European Institutions in Brussels, which works with a division dedicated to European cooperation at AFD’s headquarters.

In recent years, major impetus has been given to scaling up our relations with the European Commission, along with other bilateral European agencies and the European Investment Bank (EIB), while ensuring that AFD is fully part of the French mechanism for European relations on ODA.

The objectives of our European strategy are based on two cornerstones:

To establish sustainable relations for cooperation and operational partnerships between AFD and European institutions (Commission, Parliament, EIB);
To contribute to building an operational network of actors of European aid with the Commission and other bilateral donors.

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News

23/04/2013

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The Brussels Debates: 2nd “Breakfast on Development”

19/10/2012

“Do emerging countries need aid?” This is the question that AFD and KfW asked their partners during this second Breakfast on Development. The objective – to launch discussions on the major challenges currently facing aid – was achieved and seems to be appreciated by the partners who come to these initiatives: European Parliament, European Commission, European External Action Service and civil society.

The second edition of the Breakfast on Development event was organised by the AFD Brussels Office and KfW on 11th October in Brussels. Some 40 people gathered for this breakfast, where discussions were held on the topic “Do emerging countries need aid?” The keynote speaker was Professor Patrick Guillaumont, President of the French Foundation for International Development Study and Research (FERDI). Philippe Orliange, Director of AFD’s Latin America and Caribbean Department, his counterpart from KfW, Rüdiger Hartmann, and Jolita Butkeviciene, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the European Commission, also took part in the discussion. The topics addressed included aid allocation criteria, the appropriateness of financial instruments in emerging countries and the leverage effects of development agencies’ financing tools.

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AFD is participating in the 7th European Development Days

16/10/2012

The 7th European Development Days will be held in Brussels on 16 and 17 October on the main topic of inclusive and sustainable growth. These days are organized by the Commission and are Europe’s most important forum on development issues.

AFD is highly involved and is co-organizing a panel with its European partners: BusinessEurope, the European Centre for Development Policy Management, the European Investment Bank and KfW (German development bank).

This panel, entitled “How can we maximise inclusive growth and development: The Pros and Cons of Private Sector Engagement and Blending Instruments”, is devoted to promoting the private sector and innovative approaches to financing. These approaches include loan/grant blending mechanisms. This panel can be followed live on Twitter by using the keyword #PSDblending, which has been chosen for the occasion. It can also be watched live on video on Facebook here.