Romania’s new strategy in the field of international cooperation and humanitarian assistance, adopted

The Romanian government adopted, during Thursday’s meeting, the multi-year strategic international cooperation program for development and humanitarian assistance 2024-2027, a programmatic document that guides Romania’s action in the field and that contributes to the consolidation of the donor profile in the field.

“The document stipulates that based on the commitments assumed at the international level, Romania will continue to contribute, through effective partnerships with the beneficiary countries, to the achievement of their Sustainable Development Goals. In order to achieve this objective, the Romanian state will pursue a series of specific objectives, such as the development and institutional strengthening of the partner countries, increasing the well-being of the populations of the partner countries and supporting them in the fight against climate change and protecting the environment. The Republic of Moldova will continue to be the priority beneficiary of Romania’s policy of international cooperation for development and humanitarian assistance, all official development assistance projects carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this state being included in the Democratization and Sustainable Development Fund for the Republic of Moldova”, it is said. it says in a statement sent on Thursday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the cited document, Romania has supported Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s war of aggression, acting in full solidarity with the Ukrainian state and people. Thus, international development cooperation activities will focus both on supporting Ukraine’s European integration efforts and on the reconstruction process.

“The strategy also provides that Romania will act, with priority, in the extended region of the Black Sea, the Western Balkans, Africa and the Middle East, and the activities in the matter will be directed mainly towards the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Albania, Palestine, Mauritania, Senegal, Ethiopia and Tanzania. As a result of the commitment assumed by the President of Romania on the occasion of the EU-African Union summit in 2022, 17% of the funds allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for international cooperation activities for development and humanitarian assistance will be directed, in the form of projects, to the states from Africa, part of the Platform for the Future of Africa through Peace, Education and Development”, says the MFA.

The multi-annual strategic international cooperation program for development and humanitarian assistance 2024-2027 ensures a firm and concrete response of Romania to global and regional challenges, especially in the context of overlapping crises, with short, medium and long term effects.

In accordance with the provisions of Law no. 213/2016 regarding international cooperation for development and humanitarian assistance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the coordinator of Romania’s international cooperation policy for development and humanitarian assistance, elaborates the multi-year strategic program for international cooperation for development and humanitarian assistance, which constitutes the strategic document establishing and planning the general and specific objectives of international cooperation for the development and humanitarian assistance of our country in the medium and long term. The multiannual strategic program for international cooperation for development and humanitarian assistance 2024-2027 represents the second document in the matter. In its elaboration, both the recent international developments and the experience gained from the implementation of the strategic multi-year program on international cooperation for development and humanitarian assistance in the period 2020-2023 and the activities in the field in recent years were taken into account, according to the MAE.