Malawi hosts global partnership meet in Lilongwe

The Malawi Government will host a two-day 9th steering committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) beginning today in Lilongwe, which is expected to put the country in the global limelight.

Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe told a news conference in Lilongwe on Friday, the meeting will bring together a wide range of development actors to improve the way development cooperation is delivered at country level to ensure that it contributes to poverty eradication and shared prosperity.

The GPEDC was established at the fourth high level forum on aid effectiveness in Busan, South Korea in 2011 to sustain political dialogue on issues related to quality and effectiveness of development cooperation.

Said Gondwe: “It is important to note that this will be the first time the GPEDC meeting will be held in Malawi. So far, 60 delegates have confirmed their participation, but we expect the numbers to go up.

“As a country, we will benefit greatly from this meeting because we will be in the global limelight as this meeting draws influential people from all over the world. This meeting will provide guidance for the preparation of the GPEDC second high level meeting to take place in Kenya in November this year.”

He said the meeting will sharpen GPEDC contributions to the implementation and review of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals and identify key priorities to strengthen GPEDC ambition, governance and working arrangements, among others.

The current co-chairs of the GPEDC are Malawi, Mexico and Denmark.