First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić is participating in the round table on “Ensuring Policy Coherence and Enabling Environment at all Levels for Sustainable Development”, as part of the Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa.
Pusić underscored that countries like Croatia, which was both a recipient and provider of development assistance, best understood development cooperation, which should benefit all. “Those who provide assistance often assume a haughty and arrogant position, and of course that development cooperation is not fulfilling its goal then, i.e. the recipients refuse it,” Pusić said among other things. It is crucial that both sides benefit from development cooperation and that is why Croatia has launched an initiative called “In Defence of Small Donors”, she said. “You have to have the know-how to be able to distinguish charlatans and those who under the guise of development assistance cheat and get rich,” said Pusić. She stressed the importance of coordination of all participants in development cooperation – from institutions to civil society organisations and private donors, noting that only that could make development cooperation sustainable and successful. Pusić also said that although development cooperation might seem like a “soft” area, it was actually one of the most important instruments in international relations today, adding that money was important because without funds and big donors, there would be no development cooperation. Still, there are examples of big donations with poor results, while on the other hand sometimes a lot can be achieved with smaller funds, if one works responsibly and in a focused manner, Pusić said, noting as one such example the midwifery training in Afghanistan, which is being run by Croatia.