Activity Report

This brochure is published by Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. 2005

Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Contents C

Forewords 5

• Karel DE GUCHT, Minister for Foreign Affairs 6 • Armand DE DECKER, Minister for Development Cooperation 7 • Marc VERWILGHEN, Minister for Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade and Science Policy 8 • Didier DONFUT, Secretary of State for European Affairs, attached to the Minister for Foreign Affairs 9

1. Resources 11

1. Internal organisation of the FPS 12 2. Personnel 17 3. Buildings 18 4. Budget and financial resources 19

2. Serving the public 21

1. Consular affairs 22 2. Crisis management 23

3. Policy 25

1. Belgium in a bilateral context 26 2. Belgium in the European Union 34 3. Belgium in a multilateral context 39 4. Belgium and globalisation 41 5. Belgium and human rights 45 6. Belgium and development cooperation 46

Annexes 51

• Organisational chart of the FPS 52 • Map of worldwide FPS representations (Belgium and abroad) (December 2005) 54

• Acknowledgements 57

Forewords F

Forewords Forewords

FForeword by Accordingly, we continue to cham- With its forthcoming chairmanship of the Karel DE GUCHT, pion Central Africa on the international OSCE in 2006, Belgium will have yet Minister for Foreign Affairs scene. The transitions in the Democratic another opportunity to play an important Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi, role on the international scene. Thanks Rarely has our Federal Public Service two countries which have made histo- to our assets and expertise, I firmly (FPS) seen such a lively start to a year ric progress over the past year, urgently believe we will be able to rise to the as in 2005. require international diplomatic and occasion. financial aid. Just before the new year, a tsunami claimed the lives of thousands, including Since taking office, I have placed the Karel De Gucht ten Belgian citizens, and destroyed the emphasis on continuing to shore up Minister for Foreign Affairs houses and infrastructure of an entire existing links between Belgium and the region. This was a natural disaster on an EU as well as between Belgium and the unprecedented scale and our reaction United States. In 2005 we continued our had to be equal to the challenge. efforts in this regard. President Bush’s visit to Brussels symbolises the renewed The Crisis Centre and on-site opera- cooperation between our two countries. tions, under the supervision of FPS We organised a ‘transatlantic Gymnich’ Foreign Affairs, displayed great profes- meeting, which appears to have marked sionalism once again. Relief operations the start of a promising tradition. were under way quickly, information was processed efficiently and communica- The year 2005 was also a difficult one tions went without a hitch. for the European Union. Following the failure of referenda in France and the During the past year, other events have Netherlands, the future of the crucial once again forced our departments to European Constitution appears to have give of their best. The Theunis situa- been called into question. The image tion is just one example of the way in people have of the European Union has which our FPS has acted, appropriately declined considerably over the past few and proactively, to defend the rights and years. Integration and enlargement are interests of Belgian citizens abroad. seen as the problem, whereas really they are key parts of the solution. Problems In this context, it is vital to maintain with the EU’s financial resources merely good relations with the countries in reinforced this image problem. Belgium, question. At the bilateral level, particu- which has always been one of the EU’s lar attention has been paid to our con- most ardent supporters, has played tacts throughout the world. In addition, a key role in maintaining the dynamic Belgium’s role within the major multina- that drives unification. For an example of tional institutions is often more impor- this, one need only look at the discus- tant than one might imagine for a such a sions on the accession of Turkey. We will small country. continue to fulfil this role in the future.

Forewords Forewords

Foreword by • basic education and vocational train- since 1999. Today,F we must continue Armand DE DECKER, ing; to help these countries to ensure that Minister for Development • agriculture and food safety; their democratic transitions are suc- Cooperation • basic infrastructure. cessful and improve the lives of all.

While celebrating this, the 45th anni- In allocating 0.46% of the country’s The urgency and the magnitude of versary of Development Cooperation, gross national income to public devel- these challenges should not cause it is striking to contemplate just how opment aid, Belgium ranks 6th in the us to lose hope or conviction – at a much our development aid policy has world per capita and, in absolute terms, time when Belgium is celebrating its changed over the course of the last 11th among countries contributing to 175th anniversary and the 25th anni- half century. Born out of decolonisa- the international development aid effort. versary of federalism. At a time when tion, for a long time it was a key cha- we are also celebrating the 45th anni- ritable measure by which European The Millennium Development Goals versary of Belgian development coop- countries, which were in the throes remain the common thread running eration, we know that we can build on of economic development, could ease through all our development actions. our experience and on the quality of their consciences by coming to the The adoption of these eight goals has our officials. We also believe that the aid of the world’s poorest countries. marked a major turning point in our ideas of freedom, democracy, justice, Today, Belgium’s development aid efforts to achieve a more humane soci- equality and generosity will triumph. policy, like that of the entire European ety. Not least because it has provided Union, has completely altered its pro- a harmonised framework to universal file. It has become a key compo- development action; also because – as Armand De Decker nent in a strategic measure whereby Stanislas Geremek said at the Doing Minister for Development Cooperation development aid is incorporated into Business in Central Africa confer- an overall policy of stabilising the ence which we organised in Brussels world and making it more secure. this year – these Goals have created ‘a sense of guilt at not acting’; and finally Belgium’s cooperation policy for sustain- because they are comprehensible for able human development is based all and quantifiable and constitute a primarily on the concepts of part- commitment by all. Not only rich coun- nership and geographical concen- tries which have pledged to fund the tration of bilateral and multilateral aid realisation of these goals, but also the and complies with the relevance cri- countries that receive our aid, which teria for development by, in particular, have undertaken to establish conditions remaining separate from any natio- in which these goals can be achieved. nal economic interest and by focusing on priority sectoral themes: Central Africa remains a priority area for Belgium. The unquestionably posi- • conflict prevention and community tive trend we are seeing today – with building with a view to good gover- the stabilisation of Rwanda, the success nance; of the electoral process in Burundi and • basic health care including reproduc- changes in Congo – is, to a large extent, tive health and combating tropical due to the policy Belgium has been diseases and the AIDS virus; pursuing in the Great Lakes Region

Forewords Forewords

F Foreword by crease alongside economic growth. This Marc VERWILGHEN, means that consumerism in Asian coun- Minister for Economy, tries will also increase proportionally and Energy, Foreign Trade and the positive effects of this will rebound Science Policy on Belgium. Asian peoples will learn to recognise Belgium as a country in which The global economy is going through dif- people have a good life. In this context, ficult times at the moment. The months Asian tourists will come to see Belgium and years ahead will be decisive for our as a country famed for its fine cuisine prosperity and its future. Consequently, it and broad cultural diversity. Belgium must is important that we boost our economy’s also pose a challenge for Asian entrepre- resistance and enhance our competitive- neurs. In fact, Belgium has an excellent ness and industrial fabric. This is a task infrastructure and a high level of produc- for every country in Europe. tivity. It is the gateway to Europe.

Due to the globalisation of the economy In addition to the royal economic mis- and the enlargement of the EU towards sions, it is important to organise an inten- Eastern Europe, Belgian companies are sive and ongoing campaign to promote facing increasingly stiff international com- Belgium’s permanent visibility throughout petition. the world. In the context of the assistance given to Belgian interests abroad, an eco- During the past year, the goal of foreign nomic mission was organised in 2005 to trade has been to strengthen defence of take Belgian fashion to Saint Petersburg Belgian interests in the world, a defence (Russia). As a result, Belgian fashion accompanied by the provision of effec- designers will now be able to take part in tive financial tools to assist Belgian com- the annual event Fashion Seasons. panies. In conclusion, I am pleased to announce Economic missions to India and Japan, that in 2005 investment agreements led by members of the Royal Family, took were concluded with Uganda, Congo, place during the first half of 2005, bring- Guatemala, Nicaragua, China, Peru, ing the Asia tour to a close for the time Madagascar and Sudan. being (China received a visit in 2003). It is clear that in the future, Asia will play an increasingly important role within Marc Verwilghen the world economy. Each country is, in Minister for Economy, Energy, itself, a veritable continent while Belgium Foreign Trade and Science Policy is no more than a pocket handkerchief. But Belgium must not miss its chance. With more than 80% of its GDP exported, Belgium survives to a large extent on foreign trade. Wellbeing and the standard of living in Asia will continue to in-

Forewords Forewords

Foreword by active management and ongoing monitor- reinforce inequalitiesF and erode the very Didier DONFUT, ing, our deficit in this regard has been spirit of the European project. Secretary of State for cut by half during the past year, a situa- European Affairs, attached tion which is tangible proof of Belgium’s Over the coming year, then, I will be focus- to the Minister for Foreign motivation to push ahead with European ing my action on my firm resolution to Affairs integration. convince Belgium’s European counterparts of the need for greater internal con- Exactly a year ago, just after I had taken But 2005 was not solely a year of suc- vergence in the social, economic and office as Secretary of State for European cess stories – far from it: the failures of environmental fields. Because it is only by Affairs, I highlighted in this preface my the French and Dutch referenda on the ascribing to a strong social dynamic in duty to coordinate Belgium’s European European Constitution, the stagnation of which the Member States have sufficient interests and my desire to establish an crucial negotiations on the EU budget, budgetary resources to ensure compli- active bilateral link with the other Member and also the feeling that Europe remains ance with an ambitious minimum basis States of the EU in order to provide a powerless in the face of the major socio- for social protection, that the European more effective response to the chal- economic problems engendered by glo- Union will be able to guarantee the dura- lenges of an enlarged Europe. balisation (unemployment, relocation, bility of the European project and to res- degradation of the environment and so pond to the legitimate concerns of its Today, I believe I can say that in terms forth) have considerably affected citizens’ citizens. of these two priorities, the past twelve support for the European project. months have seen largely positive results: I have no doubt that an improvement thanks to many visits to my counterparts Therefore it is important that Belgium in the wellbeing of Europe’s 450 mil- and to the important work in gathering and its partners quickly find a means of lion citizens will strengthen their support information from our embassies, Belgium giving fresh direction to the process of for and understanding of the European has been able to gain a better understand- European integration and that they con- Constitution. The Constitution’s ratifica- ing of the state of mind of our partners vince the 450 million citizens of the tion status will be reviewed in 2006 and on all major issues and, therefore, to pre- European Union of the benefits of the EU adoption of it is one of the necessary pare under the best possible conditions in their day-to-day lives. conditions for political enhancement of for major European events. the European Union. However, in a context of globalisation, the This has enabled Belgium to make its European Union must be seen to be com- voice clearly heard in discussions which petitive in relation to the rest of the world Didier Donfut are fundamental to it, such as the revision so as to be able to generate growth and Secretary of State for European of the Lisbon Strategy, which should set high-quality jobs: this is the only way to Affairs, attached to the Minister for the European Union back on the path to guarantee wellbeing for all. Therefore it is Foreign Affairs growth, the preparation of the EU budget important to finalise and develop a single for the period 2007-2013 and the draft European market, the largest in the world, European directive on services. which is based on consumers benefiting from enhanced purchasing power and Still on the subject of coordinating companies with strong potential for inno- Belgium’s European interests, it is also vation. It will also be important to avoid important to emphasise the significant the traps of intra-European fiscal compe- progress made in transposing European tition and the levelling down of social and directives into Belgian law: thanks to pro- environmental standards, which simply

Forewords

1. Resources 1

Part 1 11 1. Resources

11. Internal organisation of tion and on the motivation and dependa- port services (personnel, training and the FPS bility of over 40 officials who have been so on); appointed project leaders. The project • developing a knowledge-management Modernisation of the FPS leaders are responsible for one or more policy within our FPS; projects and call upon their colleagues • drawing up standard and simplified In 2005, the modernisation of FPS for help in carrying out their mission. procedures for numerous tasks and Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and modernising our logistical, financial Development Cooperation again During the course of 2005, FPS Foreign and IT activities. required substantial efforts on the part Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development This implementation phase coincides of all officials. The ‘improvement pro- Cooperation also received assistance with the entry of the FPS into a new grammes’ grouped under the Business in implementing its modernisation pro- ‘learning-based’ organisational structure Process Re-engineering (BPR) project jects from FPS P&O (Personnel and in which concern for quality is an ev- again played a decisive role. In addi- Organisation) and from external con- eryday affair. tion to day-to-day staff management, sultants. All these efforts greatly facili- considerable efforts have been made tate the day-to-day work of officials and Working to shore up security to draw up staff plans, prepare for the enhance the service provided to the introduction of the new assessment public. Security is an issue of growing impor- system, develop a training plan, contin- The ICT directorate has also helped to tance at international level. We should ue implementation of the new career support implementation of the moder- point out that by ‘security’ we do not path A and adapt the status of exter- nisation programme with 69 sup- just mean physical security in Brussels nal career paths. Security was also one port projects. In addition, the Project and in our missions abroad, but also of of the key themes of 2005. Finally, we Management Office (PMO) continues to the security of information and com- should mention the new management provide methodological assistance to munication channels. A special working plan by the Chairman of the Board of project leaders in monitoring and assess- group drew up a draft general policy Directors, which sets out the objectives ing projects as well as specific tangible for information security which was ap- for the FPS during the years to come. support where needed. proved by the Board of Directors on 1 July 2005. Since then, the main points Improvement programmes Projects in a number of fields were com- contained therein have been imple- pleted during the past year. In general, mented step by step. The main change 2005 saw the start of the implementa- several key areas can be identified: in terms of structures is the introduction phase of the improvement program- • enhancing the quality of the assistance tion of a Management Committee for mes outlined as part of the BPR project we provide to citizens; Information Security (CGSI) on which sit launched in our FPS in 2002. To recap, • defining modern management tools representatives of all the departments no fewer than 109 projects were out- (e.g. project-based management, within the FPS involved in security issues. lined in 2004. Since January 2005, over management guidelines and so The Committee’s mission is to coordi- 60 projects have been launched, 15 of forth) and making management more nate the various activities carried out by which have now come to end or are transparent; the departments concerned. It is chaired nearing their conclusion. We can expect • promoting the exchange of infor- by a Chief Security Officer (CSO), who is the modernisation underway to continue mation and data management using a member of the Chairman’s staff, and at an even greater pace in 2006. computerised tools and enhancing our reports directly to him. In order to complete these projects communication policy; In its current form, the CGSI, which satisfactorily, our FPS can rely on the • using the ‘single point of contact’ met for the first time on 23 November, commitment of its hierarchical organisa- method to improve the work of sup- is made up of representatives of

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the Security, External Personnel, HQ Modernisation of external and lists various indicators1 which will be Personnel, Buildings Abroad and IT career paths used to measure the progress made in Security departments. It is chaired by relation to the stated objectives. the deputy Chairman of the Board of While development of an adminis- Directors. Over the coming months, this trative status for a new standard- Diplomatic list on the Internet select committee will be expanded and ised ‘external career path’ continues, representatives of other departments a royal decree is also being drafted The Protocol and Security Directorate may be invited to attend depending on which will bring together post adjust- (P&S), responsible for administrative the matters up for discussion. ments and other allowances in a management of diplomatic missions in In the field, the increased focus on single financial status. The system of Brussels, has also worked closely on security has been translated into tangi- leave and the rules on periodic return modernising FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign ble actions via the following measures: are also being examined. The status Trade and Development Cooperation. installation of the first RITZENTHALER for officials under contract in mis- One of the first improvements to be security lock, installation and accurate sions is still being finalised. Following made was the diplomatic list which, until tuning of alarm and surveillance systems a decision by the Council of State on recently, was available on paper only in missions and awareness campaigns the question of the appropriateness of and which in 2005 was posted on the aimed at officials in Brussels. language examinations when recruiting Federal Public Service’s website. This diplomats, it is now once again possi- list can now be updated at any time and Shoring up the National Security ble to begin recruitment. A selection consulted much more easily, including Authority (ANS) procedure was launched for diplomats by the general public. In accordance with the provisions of and cooperation attachés and a simi- a new law and a new royal decree, lar process will follow for consuls in In addition, a project was launched the number of members (FPS and 2006. aimed at the diplomatic community: public institutions) of the National more information on protocol will be Security Authority has almost doubled. A new management plan available on the Internet. The Authority meets once a month. During 2005 (up until the end of In early September, the Chairman of the The rapid and efficient provision of ser- October) the ANS issued 2,305 secu- Board of Directors presented his new vices to the diplomatic community rity clearances for members of staff of personnel management plan. Although remains a top priority for the Protocol various FPSs, international institutions, the main strategic points set out in 2002 Directorate. At the present time, our nuclear centres and so forth. remain, the plan also contains several FPS deals with 281 diplomatic missions Legislation makes access to certain new and important areas of focus taking (bilateral and multilateral) totalling some information or certain sensitive materi- into account, on the one hand, an inter- 17,000 people who all receive privileges. als subject to obtaining security clear- national environment in the throes of ance (TOP SECRET, SECRET or change and, on the other, the process of CONFIDENTIAL). modernisation within the federal authorities. The focus on developing a regional The ANS will now also be involved in approach in terms both of management issuing security certificates and notices. and of policy attests to this. The plan Shortly, certain specific requests for also incorporates several key BPR pro- security clearance will be processed jects drawn up by personnel in previ- electronically and clearances them- ous years. It also details milestones for selves may also be issued electronically. the future management style of the FPS

Part 1 13 1. Resources

1More international organisa- several new partners. The main changes, Cooperation. The second seeks to tions recognised both for headquarters and for missions, standardise the procedures involved in has been in terms of the simplification of implementing and controlling our FPS’s The list of international organisations administrative procedures in respect of budget. These new procedures will be officially recognised by FPS Foreign implementing the budget and improving applied from January 2006. Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development control procedures. Cooperation appears on the FPS website. Establishing a Management Three additional organisations asked Integration of the Finance Office and Reporting Unit to be recognised as entities entitled to the management of consular income The Board of Directors of our FPS wants claim privileges and immunities. In the In order to keep more abreast of finan- to follow the improvement programmes interim, negotiations have opened with cial flows in the context of consular under way in a structured manner and three other organisations, negotiations activities, both at headquarters and in to assess how efficient all our activities which should culminate in the signature missions, the Board of Directors decid- are, both within Directorates-General of a headquarters agreement. ed to incorporate into B&B the Finance and support directorates. To this end, At the present time, some 40,000 inter- Office and the team responsible for con- B&B has drawn up a series of manage- national civil servants hold a special sular income. A new team will focus on ment charts incorporating the main identity card issued to them by P&S. rationalising consular financial flows be- performance indicators for Directorates- tween headquarters and missions. Within General and support directorates. These Domestic personnel the framework of this change, consular indicators will measure the quality of the income will gradually be incorporated services we provide and the progress During the past year, P&S also contin- into the missions’ working capital. made under the improvement program- ued to monitor closely the issue of pri- mes. These will be included in the Board vate servants of diplomats and took an The Risk Management Department of Directors’ management plan. active part in initiatives organised by the pilots the internal control system King Baudouin Foundation in this area. The introduction of a new internal con- Regional auditors support decentra- trol system in each FPS is a key aspect lisation Greater efficiency in the organi- of reforming administrative, budgetary The gradual decentralisation of the sation of financial management and management control. To this end, FPS’s budget management to mis- our FPS has created a special Risk sions amounts to a sort of administra- Within the context of the modernisation Management Department which will be tive simplification which is welcomed of our FPS, the Budget and Management piloting implementation of an internal by our officials in our missions and at Control Directorate (B&B) implemen- control system based on COSO metho- headquarters. However, for this to suc- ted several improvement programmes dology (assessment based on a set of ceed, we also need to decentralise our designed to simplify working procedures standards). control and support powers. in the context of preparing and imple- The Internal Financial Control Unit within menting our budget and optimising con- the Directorate-General for Development To achieve this goal, the FPS has intro- trol procedures. These projects have Cooperation has been transferred to duced the new position of regional audi- had a positive impact not only on the B&B2. This department is currently res- tor. These officials, who are experts internal organisation of B&B but also on ponsible for monitoring two key projects in budgetary, financial and account the working methods of all the credit in the context of the BPR project. The management, will gradually be incorpo- management departments. first should make it possible to define rated into our network of missions. They more efficient procedures for internal will each be responsible for a region The directorate has also been joined by control within the Directorate for Indirect comprising the districts of several mis-

14 Part 1 1. Resources

sions. Although from an operational system. This system is already used to 1 point of view they are answerable to the compile mobility orders, but in 2006 it B&B Support Directorate, in administra- will also make it possible to monitor the tive terms they report to the head of the budget, pay amounts in advance and mission to which they are attached. process and register outlay in the FPS’s central system. AccountingNet optimises financial management New approach to awarding The modernisation of our organisa- honours tion must go hand in hand with the modernisation of our IT applications. In In the Honours Department, four BPR partnership with ICT (Information and projects were finalised in 2005 and Communication Technology), B&B has these resulted in more efficient circula- developed a programme of budge- tion of information and greater efficiency tary, financial and accounts manage- in the awarding process. This improvement called AccountingNet. This new ment is due, in particular, to grouping system should enable missions, regional requests for the awarding of honorary auditors and officials at headquarters distinctions. The number of awards was to follow in real time changes in mis- also reduced from nine to three and the sions’ funds, to anticipate problems and certificates given a new, more attractive to make the necessary corrections and format. decisions in good time. The system will also include reports for our management In addition, the department has worked bodies. Accountants will be appointed closely with the Prime Minister’s depart- based on the deployment of the appli- ments on a draft bill on the awarding of cation in missions and at headquarters. honorary distinctions within the Honours List. The government has now submitted TravelNet and Amadeus now in this draft to Parliament. charge of travel There are now only three t ypes of award © FPS Foreign Affairs, Hassan Nasser Officials in missions and at headquarters are travelling more and more. In 2004, B&B3 purchased some 1,800 tickets to numerous destinations throughout the world. In order to cope with increasing complexity, the FPS has opted to install the Amadeus reservation system, which will allow us to find the best prices at all times and to perform basic reserva- tions tasks internally; this will substan- tially lower costs. In order to simplify missions’ administrative and budgetary management, ICT and B&B have worked together to develop the TravelNet

Part 1 15 1. Resources

1Cooperation in a federal The conference, held in the buildings De Gucht, Minister for Foreign Affairs, in context of the European Parliament, was a the presence of Prince Philippe. resounding success. Prime Minister Guy Assessment of cooperation with Verhofstadt and the Minister Presidents Exhibition on ‘175 years of the Regions and Communities of the Communities gave the opening Belgian diplomacy’’ speech in the presence of HM King During the meeting of the Interministerial Albert. Over 800 participants from some For Belgium, the year 2005 was one Conference on Foreign Policy (CIPE) 50 countries were in attendance: heads of commemoration. The country cele- held on 15 March 2005, it was decided, of state and government, foreign minis- brated 175 years of independence and within the framework of the ‘Committee ters, technical ministers and senior civil the 25th anniversary of federalism with on Article 15/22’, to launch -- with servants, representatives of civil soci- a whole range of activities, both large the Regions and the Communities -- a ety, academics, journalists and young and small. project to evaluate and, where neces- people. The participants exchanged The prestigious historical library at sary, to adapt the 1994 Cooperation ideas and experiences on the question Egmont Palace housed an exhibition Agreement on regional economic and of how federalism in all its diversity can entitled 175 years of Belgian diplomacy: commercial attachés and the methods contribute not only to good governance, commitment throughout the world. This used to promote exports, and the 1995 prosperity and wellbeing, peace and exhibition looked back on a sometimes Cooperation Agreement on the status democracy but also to the emergence overlooked chapter in Belgium’s history. of representatives of the Communities of a unique identity in an increasingly The Press and Communication and the Regions within diplomatic mis- globalised world. Special emphasis was Directorate (P&C) was the linchpin in sions and consulates. This project, the placed on various themes such as con- organising the exhibition. Visitors were results of which will be communicated flict prevention, efforts towards nation- able to ‘travel in time’ through 175 years to the Interministerial Conference on building and federalist trends within of Belgian diplomacy, from the very Foreign Policy in due course, is coor- international cooperation organisations. beginnings of an independent Belgium dinated and chaired by the Regions and The closing speech was given by Karel to the multilateral context of the post- Communities Interface. O f f icial opening of the exhibi tion 175 year s of Belgian diplomacy at Egmont International Conference on Palace in Br ussels in the presence of HM K ing A lber t II © FPS Foreign Affairs, Dominique Decuyper Federalism

Between 3 and 5 March 2005, Belgium hosted the Third International Conference on Federalism, a joint initiative between the federal government and the governments of the Communities and the Regions. The event was one of the high points of the festivities to mark the 175th anniversary of Belgian independence and the 25th anniversary of federalism. A special team from our Federal Public Service was in charge of preparing for and organising the conference.

16 Part 1 1. Resources

war period and on to present-day feder- 2. Personnel The 2005 personnel 1plan for headquar- alism. All these milestones in Belgium’s ters stipulated an increase of some commitment on the scene of European In partnership with FPS Personnel 82 units, partly to offset departures. and world affairs captured the public’s and Organisation, FPS Foreign Affairs, Implementation of the plan will be finali- imagination. Foreign Trade and Development sed in 2006. Cooperation continued its efforts to The exhibition also gave the public modernise personnel policy, specifically The tables below show the composition an insight into the development of the in line with the reform under way within of the FPS’s staff both at headquarters diplomatic and consular career path, the civil service. and abroad as at 1 November 2005, day-to-day life within FPS Foreign Affairs The objective was better trained and and the number and category of mis- and the working context of players more highly skilled staff and personnel sions. The map annexed at the end of involved in diplomacy both in Brussels structures which more effectively meet the report shows the location of the dif- and abroad. actual requirements. ferent types of missions.

The exhibition took visitors on a jour- ney through a selection of archive FPS staff at headquarters and abroad (1 November 2005) documents, photographs, audio-visual souvenirs and objects of national sym- Total number of established officials and officials under contract at headquarters: bolism. A festooned VIP table and an example of an ambassador’s gala outfit Established internal officials 642 lent a touch of realism to the event. Officials under contract 523 Diplomats 150 During the two months that the exhibi- Chancellors 62 tion was open to the public, over 8,000 Development Cooperation Attachés 16 visitors both Belgium and further afield Total at headquarters 1393 came to Egmont Palace. The design, presentation, setting and explana- tions from attendants/guides were much Total number of established officials and officials under contract in missions, appreciated and P&C was justified in Permanent Representations abroad and Permanent Representations in Brussels: considering the exhibition one of the highlights of the past year. Diplomats 250 Chancellors 124 Development Cooperation Attachés 37 Expatriate officials under contract 153 Officials under contract employed on site 1515 Total in missions and Permanent Representations abroad and in Brussels 2079 Grand total (Headquarters, missions and Permanent Representations) 3472

Part 1 17 1. Resources

1In 2005, two embassies were opened Number and category of embassies and consulates (1 November 2005) in Doha (Qatar) and Astana (Kazakhstan) and a Consulate General was opened in Missions Guangzhou (China). The following mis- Embassies 92 sions were closed: the Consulate General Consulates General 17 in Sydney, the Consulate in Malaga Consulates 9 and the Permanent Representation to Permanent Representations 10 the Organisation for the Prohibition Cooperation Bureaus * 4 of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Totaal 132

The Hague. * This refers only to cooperation bureaus in countries where there is no Belgian embassy: Bamako, Cotonou, Maputo and Niamey. 20 bureaus have been set up in the grounds of an embassy, consulate-general or Permanent Representation.

3. Buildings

Buildings abroad Buildings in Brussels

The FPS runs approximately 350 build- These buildings are rented. The main ings abroad, over half of which it owns. building, Egmont I, is located at 15 The total value of the FPS’s fixed assets is rue des Petits Carmes. Construction of almost € 375 million. Most of these are Egmont II, which began in June 2004, official residences of heads of missions. will be completed by the end of 2006. Other buildings, mainly chancelleries, are Egmont II will replace several rented rented and cost between € 9 million and buildings at different locations on rue € 10 million per annum. de Namur (nos. 48, 59 and 72), rue de In 2005, an investment budget of Bréderode (no. 6), rue Crespel (nos. 2-4) € 11,979,000 was allocated. The pur- and rue Haute (no. 139). The FPS also chasing budget totalled € 2.4 million. runs Egmont Palace and Val Duchesse The buildings Master Plan gives an indi- Castle in partnership with the Buildings cative rundown of revenue and expendi- Agency. ture of the Buildings Fund over the next four years. This pertains primarily to major real estate transactions and priority reno- vation and construction projects.

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4. Budget and financial resources 1 Overview of the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation budget

Since the 2004 budget year, the resources for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation have been incorporated into a single budget.

Total budget for 2005 (adjusted) • Commitment credits: a 1.230.931.000 • Organisation credits: a 1.260.761.000

Commitment Organisation Division Programm Area amount amount (in € thousands) (in € thousands) 01 Strategic bodies of the Minister for Foreign Affairs 2.717 2.717 02 Strategic bodies of the Minister for Development Cooperation 2.396 2.396 Strategic bodies of the State Secretary for European Affairs, 11 1.295 1.295 attached to the Minister for Foreign Affairs 21 Management bodies 63.286 63.286 0 Management and supervision 63.286 63.286 40 General services 11.458 11.458 1 Protocol 653 653 2 Training 1.690 1.690 3 Conferences, seminars and other events 1.895 1.895 4 Humanitarian aid 1.178 1.178 5 Representation abroad 1.465 1.465 6 Communication, information and documentation 1.557 1.557 7 International cooperation 3.020 3.020 42 Embassies, consulates and cooperation missions 170.582 166.208 0 Subsistence programme 157.250 157.701 1 Buildings fund 13.332 8.507 43 Directorate-General for Legal Affairs 546 546 0 Subsistence programme 546 546 51 Directorate-General for Bilateral Affairs 6.836 6.836 0 Subsistence programme 395 395 1 Bilateral relations 3.835 3.835 2 Economic expansion 2.606 2.606 52 Directorate-General for Consular Affairs 11.193 11.193 0 Subsistence programme 10.881 10.881 1 IInternational institutions 115 115 2 Humanitarian aid 197 197 53 Directorate-General for Multilateral Affairs and Globalisation 125.402 127.377 1 Multilateral relations 73.621 73.621 2 Science policy 3.294 3.294 3 Cooperation 475 475 4 Humanitarian aid 48.012 49.987 54 Directorate-General for Development Cooperation 831.872 864.101 0 Subsistence programme 2.979 2.979 1 Governmental cooperation 194.422 175.241 2 Non-governmental cooperation 186.475 187.402 3 Multilateral cooperation 282.816 399.619 4 Special missions 165.180 98.860 55 Directorate-General for Coordination and European Affairs 3.348 3.348 1 European relations 3.348 3.348

Part 1 19

2. Serving the public 2

Part 2 21 2. Serving the public

21. Consular affairs nologies: one year ahead of schedule, the exchange of information and judi- Belgium was the first country in the cial intervention. Many Belgian embas- Fresh momentum in the fight world to issue passports with a built-in sies and consulates made their own against terrorism electronic chip. We were also the first contribution, and in so doing received country to organise checks of such pass- the support of headquarters in Brussels. In 2005, the FPS was once again con- ports at borders (airports and ports). FPS Foreign Affairs is now more fronted by the problem of terrorism. In Together with France, Belgium is involved than ever before with assisting some cases, FPS Foreign Affairs can involved in the first experiment within other bodies, in terms of both collection provide a useful contribution to action the European Union to record finger- and monitoring of information. Ongoing by other FPSs as well as the police and prints and digital photographs for visa consultation with our main partners at the justice system. applications. national level and abroad is, essen- The fight against terrorism is one of the tially, the reason our FPS exists and we key action areas for consular affairs. Through these new initiatives, FPS can often make a difference thanks to Processing visa applications, issuing Foreign Affairs once again sent out a our support action and our vast network passports, making travel documentation strong message in 2005, proving that abroad. secure, registering biometric data – all the fight against counterfeit travel docu- Moreover, it is clear that over the these activities have an important secu- ments and illegal immigration is high on coming years, considerable efforts will rity aspect. Belgium is currently at the its list of priorities. In 2005, cooperation still be required when it comes to com- forefront in terms of applying new tech- with other countries was stepped up in bating terrorism. Special attention will be focused on training for consuls, diplo-

The new Belgian passpor t wi th an electronic chip can be read and decoded by a mats and visa officials in countering and por t able or pocket compu ter. © BELGA preventing terrorism. All useful information from abroad will be forwarded without delay to the relevant Belgian authorities. Only by rapidly and efficiently disseminating all available information will our country remain secure for all inhabitants.

Issuing visas and monitoring

Over the past year, the Directorate- General for Consular Affairs (DGC) again invested a considerable amount in monitoring the issuing of visas at missions.

When monitoring an embassy or a consulate, special attention is paid to the way in which the Visa Section is organised and, in particular, to the service provided to customers. This entails veri- fying whether there are any superfluous stages in the processing of files, whether

22 Part 2 2. Serving the public

it is possible to notify the applicant of than files for short stays and therefore Service itself. The working2 group has the progress being made on their file entail a greater workload for all parties already met several times with positive without them having to come to the mis- concerned. results and discussions are continuing. sion in person, and whether applicants who have travelled long distances are In cooperation with the Immigration Comparing the figures for 2004 (12 dealt with as flexibly as possible. Service at FPS Interior, a working months) to those of 2005 (9 months) group has been set up, the aim being gives the following results for all mis- Several missions have already received to reduce the time taken to issue visas sions connected to the electronic recommendations in this area. both at missions and at the Immigration VisaNet application:

Moreover, missions are strongly urged to 2004 2005 post local visa information on their web- Visas issued automatically by missions 63 % 68 % sites, including the paperwork required, Files sent to the Immigration Service 37 % 32 % practical information about applying for a visa, opening hours and so forth. This All diplomatic and consular missions are included, apart from the embassy in Luanda modern means of communication will which will be connected to the electronic network in the near future. enable the public to locate information in a clear and comprehensive manner In the future, missions will again be asked to use automatic issuing as much as pos- and will often mean that they do not sible, insofar as current rules permit, and only to send files to the Immigration Service need to go to the mission in person. where there are justified reasons for doubt. This also means time saved for the mission itself since it would receive fewer 2. Crisis management Assisting Belgian citizens telephone calls and written requests for abroad information and could, in most cases, FPS Foreign Affairs: refer enquirers to the website. A lifeline in times of crisis In addition to difficulties encountered by individual citizens (theft, loss of docu- In 2005, the working method of the Visa The Crisis Centre – Travel Warning Unit ments, accidents) where the usual con- Section in Kinshasa underwent a thor- – B-FAST department has been in ope- sular assistance comes into play, some ough review and was modified. This has ration within FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign situations may arise in which small or meant a considerable amount of time Trade and Development Cooperation large groups of Belgian citizens are saved for visa applicants and a reduc- since 2003; the required additional pro- involved and which may potentially tion in workload for the mission. A simi- visions have now been made to provide cause a threat to their safety. In such lar process is currently under way at the a more effective response in emergency cases, the decision may be taken to Visa Section in Casablanca in a bid to situations. In this context, there are three activate the Crisis Centre. reduce the time taken to issue visas main areas of action: The Crisis Centre acts as a coordina- there. The aim is to remove some stages • assisting Belgian citizens in crisis tor and distributes information to vic- of the file-processing procedure and to situations abroad; tims themselves, their families and the optimise the entire visa issuing system. • travel warnings for Belgian citizens; general population. The Crisis Centre At the two missions mentioned above, • assisting local populations in distress, works closely with Belgian embassies the investigation has dealt mainly with via B-FAST. and consulates in the individual coun- settlement files, since these are more tries concerned. complex in terms of the documentation In 2005, the Crisis Centre was acti- required and the assessment procedure vated twice: the operation launched

Part 2 23 2. Serving the public

2in late December 2004, following the to travel abroad on the situation at their Organisation earthquake and tsunami in South- destination and by warning them of B-FAST is chaired by the Minister for East Asia, continued in January 2005. any problems or dangers they may en- Foreign Affairs and includes all the Given the extent of the tsunami disas- counter. relevant federal public services (Prime ter, the Crisis Centre took more than In 2005, the FPS published travel war- Minister’s departments and the feder- 10,000 calls in just a few days from nings for some 131 countries. al public services Foreign Affairs, worried Belgian citizens. Most callers Since the demand for travel warnings is Development Cooperation, National were reporting missing persons or were increasing and increasing numbers of Defence, Public Health, Interior and asking for help in finding them. Extensive people now have access to the Internet, Budget) and, where appropriate, experts, and painstaking investigation enabled FPS Foreign Affairs has been posting specialist NGOs and assistance services an initial list of 4,000 people reported travel warnings since 2001 on the web- in the Regions, Communities and muni- missing to be reduced to a much smal- site www.diplomatie.be. This informa- cipalities. ler figure. In this respect, the FPS was tion enables travellers to assess the assisted by valuable cooperation from risks associated with travelling to cer- Tsunami, Katrina, Pakistan… the Red Cross and federal police. tain countries (security, political or social B-FAST has been activated 32 times The second time the Crisis Centre was upheaval, natural phenomena, health since its inception and this has enabled activated was the day after the bomb problems). The situation of countries in it to amass a wealth of vital expertise. In attacks in London in July. which problems are evident or are likely 2005, B-FAST was active several times Naturally, other kinds of assistance can to arise is monitored closely. The portal in the field: in Thailand and Indonesia be provided in some situations and to our Internet site also provides infor- (tsunami in December 2004), in Romania there is no need for the Crisis Centre to mation on bird flu. On average, the site (flooding in July 2005), in Niger (famine be activated. However, in some cases it received some 500 visitors a day con- in August 2005), in Bulgaria (flooding is still placed on advance alert, such as, sulting travel warnings in 2005. in August 2005), in the United States for example, during the epidemic of the (Hurricane Katrina in August 2005) Marburg virus in Angola (April 2005), B-FAST activated seven times and in Pakistan (earthquake in October the troubles in La Paz (June 2005) 2005). The key operations were those and during the period of tension coin- Belgium does more than provide in the regions of South-East Asia affec- ciding with the end of the period of poli- assistance for Belgian citizens in ted by the tsunami. tical transition (30 June 2005) in the distress. Democratic Republic of Congo. In the event of disasters and emergency Finally, the FPS also played an impor- situations abroad affecting primarily tant role in disseminating information on the local population, the local authori- the bird flu epidemic, in particular in the ties sometimes ask for emergency aid form of travel warnings. from Belgium. To meet such requests, in 2000 the Council of Ministers approved Travel warnings issued for more the creation of a rapid reaction unit. This than 131 countries unit comprises emergency aid teams which can leave at short notice for a FPS Foreign Affairs also endeavours region affected by a man-made or natu- to ensure Belgian citizens do not find ral disaster. The new unit was named themselves in problematic situations by the Belgian First Aid & Support Team providing information for those wishing and is better known as B-FAST.

24 Part 2 3. Policy 3

Part 3 25 3. Policy

31. Belgium in a bilateral somewhat along the lines of the Belgo- thorities organised a similar day in Lille context Luxembourg summit and, finally, the cre- to raise awareness among the Belgian ation of a discussion group on the future public of the French institutional system. Relations with neighbouring of the Benelux region which will oversee The Belgian authorities also orga- countries various national discussions. nised in Kortrijk on 21 November 2005 the ‘Second Belgo-French Interregional Luxembourg Federal Republic of Germany Cooperation Forum’ in a bid to give an overview of cross-border cooperation The third joint meeting of the govern- Germany is a key partner in both with the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and ments of Luxembourg and Belgium was political and economic terms, espe- also to set out prospects for the future held on 15 July 2005. The aim of these cially in the context of the European in terms of cross-border cooperation. summits is to analyse, at regular inter- Union. Contacts with Germany have vals, the progress made in deepening been enhanced at both the higher United Kingdom bilateral cooperation to enhance the day- political level and civil servant level. to-day wellbeing of the country’s popu- The German President Köhler visit- Ahead of the British Presidency of the lations. The two governments welcomed ed Brussels. The fruitful collabora- European Union, relations with the the entry into force of the new BLEU tion with Germany is reflected, among United Kingdom were the focus of par- Convention (Convention on Belgium- other things, in our joint efforts in the ticular attention in 2005. One meaning- Luxembourg Economic Union) and the context of Afghanistan and Iraq and in ful example of positive collaboration accession on 23 May of Belgium togeth- Belgium’s support for the initiative by involved Central Africa. The year also er with Wallonia, the French Community Germany, Japan, India and Brazil for saw the sixth Belgo-British Conference, and the German-speaking Community to reform of the United Nations Security held in London in October, focusing on the SAR.LOR.LUX interregional coopera- Council. the future of the European Union. It was tion initiative. an opportunity to exchange views on France medium-term political, institutional and The Netherlands economic developments. European and At the request of the French government, national environmental policies were The Thalassa II meeting the Belgian authorities helped in setting another important theme. Ministers The second Belgo-Dutch summit known up a working group of six Belgian and De Decker and Tobback and former as Thalassa II was held in Brussels on 5 six French members of parliament. The Ministers Neyts and Eyskens, among September 2005. These informal meet- group’s mission was to identify, over a others, represented Belgium. ings aim to shore up the links between period of one year from 10 November the governments of Belgium and the 2005, the legislative and regulatory Focus on Central and Netherlands. The Thalassa II meeting obstacles to developing cooperation Eastern Europe gave rise to a number of tangible ac- and to come up with solutions to over- tions such as meetings between Minister come such difficulties. In the same spirit 2005 was also the year that saw the full Vande Lanotte and Minister Peys, mee- and out of a concern to ensure that the integration of eight Central and Eastern tings between the ministers for coope- French public are more aware of the way European countries into the European ration, the meeting of the MPs contact in which they function, the Belgian au- Union following their accession in 2004. group in The Hague on 12 December thorities organised an Open Day reveal- The Baltic states, Poland, Hungary, the 2005, the regular staging of an annual ing information on the inner workings Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia Thalassa summit in late August/early of Belgian institutions on Tuesday, 14 continued their significant efforts September with a detailed agenda June 2005 in Bruges. The French au- towards reform and EU integration. The

26 Part 3 3. Policy

‘old’ Member States also had to adapt the opening of the embassy in Astana led to the conclusion in3 May 2005 of an to the historic changes taking place in (Kazakhstan) at the end of 2005, agreement on the four ‘common spaces’ Europe. Since Belgian foreign policy Belgium also intends to deepen its rela- (freedom, security and justice; economy; is, generally, an extension of European tions with the countries of Central Asia. external security; research and education). foreign policy and since the position of each of the 25 Member States is impor- Russian Federation tant, the Belgian government decided to open embassies in the capital cities of Belgium’s relations with the Russian countries in which Belgium was not pre- federation remained extremely positive viously represented, such as Latvia and in 2005, as testified by the conclusion Estonia. on 3 October 2005 of the 2005-2007 The integration of Central European Action Programme, designed to boost countries has also encouraged Belgian trade and bilateral contacts in several diplomacy to reorient its thinking and to fields such as energy, transport, customs focus more on Eastern Europe. This fol- and the environment. As an example of lowed on from the move by the the importance accorded by Belgium to EU in 2004 to launch its European this particular neighbour and partner, Neighbourhood Policy, aimed at Eastern the 2005-2006 EUROPALIA festival has countries and those in the Southern been dedicated to Russia. Mediterranean. In the east, the EU is seeking to shore up relations with Belgium’s policy falls squarely within the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, framework of the EU’s policy of partner- Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Following ship and cooperation with Russia, which

President Pu tin at tends the of f icial opening of Europalia Russia on 3 October in Br ussels © BELGA

Part 3 27 3. Policy

3Ukraine Belgium active in for Operation Proxima in the Former South-East Europe Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and In Ukraine, one of the key foreign for the EU Police Mission in Bosnia- policy objectives of the new govern- Western Balkans Herzegovina. It also has a 230-strong ment, which took power in late 2004, contingent in Mitrovica in Kosovo as part is to join the European Union and Belgium kept up its commitment to the of the NATO operation there. In terms of NATO as quickly as possible. President Western Balkans in 2005. In terms of bilateral relations, Foreign Minister Karel Yushchenko made this quite clear on multilateral relations, Belgium contin- De Gucht visited Belgrade, Pristina and 21 February 2005 at his meetings with ued to offer political support to the Zagreb in late March 2005. 2004-2005 the EU and NATO Heads of State and Stabilisation and Association Process, also saw many bilateral meetings held Government in Brussels. The appoint- by which each country in the region in Brussels or on the fringes of inter- ment of Yuri Yekhanurov as Prime moves towards EU membership at its national gatherings. These meetings led Minister in September 2005, replacing own pace. Belgium is also providing to the launch of several projects finan- Yulia Timoshenko, has in no way al- human and material support to ope- ced by the ‘preventive diplomacy’ and tered this policy. Belgium is keen to use rations in the Balkans as part of the ‘conflict prevention’ budget allocations, these changes not only to bolster its Common Foreign and Security Policy focusing in particular on strengthening bilateral links but also to bind Ukraine and the European Security and Defence the rule of law, supporting decentralisa- to European values of democracy and Policy. For example, it sent 50 soldiers tion and providing technical assistance freedom with a view to increasingly and four Agusta helicopters to assist in with adopting language legislation. Since closer ties between the country and the Operation Althea in Bosnia-Herzegovina. January 2005, Belgium has had a new Euro-Atlantic institutions. Belgium also provided police officers diplomatic mission in Sarajevo.

President Yushchenko of Uk raine at the NATO summi t in Br ussels © BELGA

28 Part 3 3. Policy

Turkey East, the Organisation for Security and for the two countries 3to give substance Cooperation in Europe and politico-mili- to bilateral dialogue and cooperation in In 2005, Belgium consistently defen- tary issues relating to NATO and the many areas. ded Turkey’s membership of the EU and European Union. therefore welcomed the start of acces- Strengthened dialogue sion talks on 3 October 2005. Bilateral Visit by President Bush Over a year before the US President’s relations with Turkey have been close. The high point of the year was President visit to Brussels, the Prime Minister Several high-level meetings took place Bush’s visit to Brussels in February. proposed strengthening dialogue and in 2004-2005, including the visit of During the visit, the United States and giving it a more strategic bent by orga- Minister De Gucht to Ankara in early Europe renewed the tradition of Atlantic nising regular informal meetings be- December 2004. Belgium is also sup- dialogue and cooperation in the frame- tween the foreign ministers. The first porting a number of preventive diplo- work of NATO and the EU. of these was held in September during macy projects, in particular to improve Very significantly for Belgian-US rela- the United Nations General Assembly in the economic situation in the south-east tions, the visit also included a major New York. It took place at the invitation of the country. bilateral element. Particularly memora- of Secretary of State Rice. ble here were President Bush’s audience Greece with His Majesty the King, speeches by President Bush and Prime Minister Belgium and Greece enjoy excellent Verhofstadt on relations between the bilateral relations. The two countries countries, which elicited much attention often see eye-to-eye, particularly on the in the media and political circles, and future of Europe. interviews between the heads of government. These interviews were a chance Cyprus President Bush and Pr ime Minister Verhofstadt in Febr uar y. Transatlantic relations were top of the agenda . © BELGA Belgium and the Republic of Cyprus have continued to develop their bilateral relations, with many political meetings taking place at a high level. In addition, the volume of trade between the two countries has increased.

Strengthening links with the United States

The positive trend observed in our bilateral relations with the United States in 2004 continued this year. The foreign ministers of the two countries met on several occasions, both in Brussels and Washington. There were many consultations at administrative level, including about Central Africa, the Middle

Part 3 29 3. Policy

3Visit by Prince Philippe In April 2005, Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde visited Washington. The trip included a ceremony at the new ‘World War II Memorial’ to com- memorate the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Ardennes and the end of the Second World War. Their presence went down very well with the US public. Another gesture of solidarity - sending the B-FAST team to the areas in the south of the United States hit by hurricane Katrina - was also much appreciated. HRH Pr ince Philippe and HRH Pr incess Mathilde at a ceremony at the Wor ld War II Memor ial in Washing ton © BELGA Working for peace and reconstruction in the Middle East Enhancing relations with the Contributing to the reconstruc- Palestinian Authority tion of Iraq Improved relations with Israel Belgian has strengthened its rela- 2005 was a decisive year in politi- Following the revision of the geno- tions with the Palestinian Authority by cal terms for post-Saddam Iraq. It was cide law, and the subsequent dropping launching bilateral consultations. It is also witness to renewed commitment by of suits against Prime Minister Sharon, contributing actively to restoring security Belgium in the process of reconstruction work could get under way in 2004- through its participation in EU COPPS, and political transition in the country. 2005 on repairing bilateral relations an initiative to reform the Palestinian This commitment was made possible by with Israel. The visits by Minister Michel police force. Belgium is also support- the elections of 30 January 2005 which (February 2004), Minister De Gucht ing the plan of the Quartet’s (EU, USA, led to temporary but legitimate institu- (February 2005) and Prime Minister Russia, UN) Special Envoy and former tions. As of 30 June 2005, Belgium had Verhofstadt (March 2005) succeeded President of the World Bank, James contributed (via the European Union, in normalising diplomatic and politi- Wolfensohn, to reconstruct the Gaza UNDP - the United Nations Development cal relations. Bilateral consultations be- Strip. Development Cooperation has Programme - and UNICEF) b 17.5 mil- tween senior civil servants were resu- freed up c 4 million for this purpose. lion to the reconstruction of Iraq. In med following four years’ interruption. the wake of President Bush’s visit to The renewed dynamic at federal level These bilateral activities are the result of Brussels in February 2005, and the had knock-on effects at regional level. a conscious policy decision on our part Brussels International Conference on Both the Flemish and French communi- to offer sustainable support to interna- Iraq on 22 June 2005, Belgium also ties decided to renew formal coopera- tional peace efforts for the Middle East decided to focus on new contributions tion with Israel after a four-year hiatus. conflict. to re-establishing a rule-of-law state and security, two areas in which significant improvements are vital if reconstruction and political transition in Iraq are to be successful.

30 Part 3 3. Policy

Encouragement and rent elections and providing effective tion with a view to training3 an integrated involvement in Africa economic governance. brigade of the Congolese army and pro- In the meantime, a substantial amount moting civil service reform. Democratic Republic of Congo of research and preparatory work has been undertaken with a view to recon- Great Lakes Region Belgium has closely monitored each structing the country, both economically phase of the transition process in the and in other areas, once the current The countries of the Great Lakes Region Democratic Republic of Congo. Rather transition phase is over. Consultations have been encouraged to cooperate than simply looking on, we have also have been held with Belgian economic fully in restoring sovereignty to Congo, encouraged and participated in the experts. There has also been a conside- in tackling arms trafficking and ille- process. rable amount of work done on the legal gal mining activities and in dismantling We contributed to the creation of an system, made possible by the new con- ‘negative forces’. Belgium has repeatedly integrated Congolese army by training stitution which institutes the separation informed Congo, Rwanda and Burundi two brigades, supplying equipment and of powers. Key sectors of the economy, that it is ready and willing to reactivate playing an active role in EUSEC, the such as the financial sector, have also the CEPGL (Economic Community of body coordinating EU involvement in this received special attention. Collaboration the Great Lakes Countries). The tran- area. between the National Bank of Belgium sition processes under way in Congo and the Central Bank of Congo will and Burundi and the change of pre- Through our action within the transi- play an important role in this respect. sident in Burundi have meant that a tion support committee CIAT (Comité Belgium has also worked on implemen- proper reactivation conference has not d’Accompagnement de la Transition), ting a ‘payment chain’, which aims to so far been possible. Within the Group we helped lay the foundations of the ensure that soldiers and police officers of Friends, our country has been closely ongoing dialogue between CIAT and the are properly paid. The transport, mining linked to the International Conference presidential space. and diamond industries have also been on the Great Lakes Region, key aspects We also played a key role in terms of examined. of which were the preparations for the drafting the new Congolese constitution ministerial conferences, the Summit and providing financial support for the International initiatives (postponed until the second half of electoral process. A special initiative has been set up for 2006) and the meetings of experts. Belgium has also taken part in EUPOL eastern Congo - the eastern Congo Belgium has encouraged all the efforts (training units of the Congolese police) Contact Group, in which Belgium has made by the UN and the African Union and encouraged the DDR process played an active role. Belgium has also (AU) on the subject of Central Africa. It (Disarmament, demobilisation and rein- fought for the arms embargo against has been closely associated with devel- tegration) in Congo. Congo to be strengthened and more oping the UN resolutions, monitoring the effectively applied. It has supported arms embargo, the initiatives put for- Bilateral support international initiatives to tackle illegal ward by the AU and Francophonie and, Through many bilateral contacts (minis- mining activities in Congo and actions last but not least, all of EU policy on the terial trips, visit by the Minister’s Special aiming to dismantle ‘negative forces’ Great Lakes Region. Envoy, Jan Mutton, and interparliamen- and to end the impunity. In this context, tary meetings) the Congolese authorities we have always stressed that the situa- have been continually and clearly infor- tion in Congo should be referred to the med that real progress is needed in the International Criminal Tribunal. In colla- transition process and that the authori- boration with South Africa, we have set ties are responsible for holding transpa- up an original form of trilateral coopera-

Part 3 31 3. Policy

3Investing in good relations Visits Chilean Chamber of Commerce and with Asia In June, HM King Albert II made a state the Latin America department, under visit to China. In 2005, the Foreign the auspices of the Universidad de Following the diplomatic conference of Minister K. De Gucht visited Sri Lanka, Chile and the Universidad Central de heads of missions in Asia (Singapore, 25 Indonesia, China (during the state visit), Venezuela. The aim of the seminar was April 2004), the FPS compiled a memo- Japan and India. Asia was thus once to promote mutual awareness and there- randum in 2005 on Belgium’s Asian again a key focus of foreign policy, in by to strengthen the shared roots and policy. A fully-fledged ‘strategy docu- line with the conclusions of the strategy values that unite the peoples of Europe ment’ was published in November 2005 document. and Latin America. The theme of the event was the 150th This noted that Asian countries were A deeper understanding anniversary of the Chilean Civil Code, exerting increasing influence in interna- of South America with a tribute to its author, Andrés Bello, tional relations and in multilateral organi- who was born in Caracas in 1781 and sations. Economic growth in many parts Latin America has long had ties with died in Santiago de Chile. Bello was of Asia is among the strongest in the Europe. Belgians have been present considered “the most eminent man in world, and this is not set to change over there since the 16th century and have the history of Hispanic American litera- the next decade. In the future, Belgium formed close cultural, political and eco- ture, as a poet, humanist, scholar and must invest more than ever before in nomic ties with the continent. jurisconsult”. establishing and strengthening political On 12-13 May 2005, an international Representatives from academia - rec- contacts with Asian countries and must academic seminar was organised at tors and professors from the Venezuelan ensure that these contacts have the Egmont Palace by the AIB (Asociación and Chilean universities mentioned broadest possible economic dimension. Internacional Andrés Bello), the Belgian- above, professors from ICHEC (Business

HM K ing A lber t II and Chinese president Hu Jint ao in Beijing in June © BELGA

32 Part 3 3. Policy

School) and the University of Paris - missions were organised to Japan, India developing countries. 3These two instru- gave talks, and finally a round table dis- and Brazil. The FPS also prepared the ments are used frequently and require cussion was held involving a panel of Prime Minister’s ‘Road Show’, which took considerable funding. Finexpo works professors from the Université Libre de him to four countries in South-East Asia in close collaboration with the depart- Bruxelles, the Université Catholique de in November 2005, to explain Belgium’s ments of the National Delcredere Office; Louvain and other universities. tax system and attract foreign invest- a joint form has been designed for com- ment to the country. panies and/or banks applying for state Economic diplomacy safe- assistance with tied aid (‘tied aid’ means guards Belgian interests Better protection of investments that the country receiving the aid must buy goods or services from the donor Shortly after taking office, Minister In 2005 the Belgium-Luxembourg country). The form can be found on the De Gucht launched the idea of Economic Union (BLEU) signed eight Delcredere and Finexpo websites (www. ‘economic diplomacy’. This he agreements with other countries to mutu- finexpo.be) ; these sites also contain all defined as simply a dimension of ally protect and encourage investment. the legislation relating to Finexpo’s work Belgium’s foreign policy. Supporting The countries were Democratic Republic as well as the annual activity reports. the country’s economic interests of Congo, Guatemala, Nicaragua, China, The tied aid questionnaire can also be abroad, in the broadest sense Madagascar, Peru and Sudan. Similar found there. of the term, and throughout the agreements were concluded with Syria world, is one of our basic missions. and Nigeria. Negotiations with South Projects to strengthen Belgium’s Economic diplomacy covers a whole Korea are still ongoing. Belgium also image series of activities ranging from qua- signed agreements to stop double taxa- litative support to export projects, tion, an area that has seen much activity 2005 witnessed 22 projects designed removing obstacles to market access in 2005. to strengthen Belgium’s image, includ- and creating conditions favourable ing a Léopold I exhibition in Berlin, the to the flow of trade, to supporting Mechanisms to fund Belgian Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie’s tour to investment abroad, offering practi- exports Japan, an Ensor exhibition in Bratislava, cal assistance to entrepreneurs and a film on Belgium and a Memling exhibi- providing mediation in disputes. Key Finexpo, a department of FPS Foreign tion at the Frick Museum in New York. to all this is the authorities’ recep- Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development tiveness to and willingness to meet Cooperation, has the task of supporting Diplomacy helps to limit the the needs of the business world. Belgian companies that export capital impact of bird flu on exports goods and services. It uses three instru- Support for Belgian companies ments to achieve this: a mechanism to Further bird flu outbreaks in South- stabilise interest rates, state-to-state East Asia, Siberia, Turkey and Romania The FPS coordinates all the players loans and interest credit. The interest have led to new export restrictions on involved with organising the economic stabilisation mechanism allows export- Belgian products in this sector. As far missions that take place several times a ers to offer a guaranteed fixed rate as the FPS is concerned, the priority year. These missions, which are headed throughout the period that the credit is here, taking account of the demands by HRH Prince Philippe, are meeting being paid back; however, this activity of the affected sector, must be to con- with increasing success in the business is very sluggish due to the low market vince veterinary experts abroad that world. Participating companies have interest rates. State loans and inte- exported Belgian goods do not carry been highly satisfied with the trading rest credit are a means of supporting any risk. This operation has been suc- results achieved. In 2005, week-long Belgian companies whilst also helping cessful thanks to the swift and efficient

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3action of diplomatic missions in passing 2. Belgium in the European within the 25-member EU. It has encou- on technical analyses and thanks also Union raged other Member States to continue to the vigorous intervention of the Food with the ratification process, believing Agency (AFSCA/FAVV). . Ratification of the European that the future of the EU requires each Constitution fails following Member State to adopt a clear position negative referenda results on the European Constitution. In the immediate term, Belgium believes The Treaty establishing a Constitution that people’s confidence in the European for Europe was signed in Rome on project must be restored by proving that 29 October 2004. Before it can enter the EU can take concrete decisions to into force, it must be ratified by all EU meet the real needs of its citizens. Member States. The period of reflection should also give For the constitution to be ratified in everybody the chance to think about Belgium, it must be approved by the what the European project means. In Federal Parliament and by the parli- Belgium’s view, the EU cannot simply be amentary assemblies of the different reduced to a large free trade zone com- Regions and Communities. bined with various types of cooperation. The two chambers of the Federal In a world dominated increasingly by Parliament have already passed the globalisation, the EU must assert itself Treaty: the Senate on 28 April 2005 as a political unit capable of developing and the Chamber of Representatives on an economic and social strategy that 19 May 2005. The Treaty has also been benefits its citizens, of creating an area approved in most of the regional and of security and justice and of pursuing community parliaments. a foreign and defence policy worthy of At EU level, a majority of 13 Member the name. States have already approved the European Constitution. The EU’s financial prospects However, the ratification process has for the period 2007-2013 been overshadowed by ‘no’ votes in the French and Dutch referenda. This failure Throughout 2005, the European agenda - which seems to have more to do with was dominated by the negotiations on the people’s mistrust of the direction being first financial framework of the enlarged taken by Europe than by the actual text European Union. The challenge was to of the Constitution - has thrown the EU determine new expenditure ceilings which into a state of uncertainty. To give all the Council and the European Parliament those concerned time to think carefully will have to respect when deciding annual about the future course of European budgets over the next seven-year period integration, the European Council in (2007-2013). Alongside this, there were June 2005 instituted a one-year period negotiations on the complex instruments of reflection. and mechanisms used to allocate resour- Belgium believes that the European ces and on how to guarantee the financ- Constitution, for all its shortcomings, is ing of expenditure via the own resources a suitable basis for pursuing integration system.

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Following some extremely difficult nego- Belgium’s positions were drafted and issue in January 2005,3 led to renewed tiating, the European Council reached continually amended to take account hopes of reaching an agreement. Hopes a general agreement early on the mor- of the latest developments in the nego- were boosted by the Spring Summit’s ning of Saturday 17 December. The tiations. This took place at around 50 successes in reviving the Lisbon most important - and certainly the most coordination meetings organised by the Strategy and reaching a compromise on arduous - phase of the process is there- Directorate-General for European Affairs the Stability and Growth Pact. However, fore over. Nonetheless, the outcome of and attended by all the relevant bodies. the Luxembourg Presidency strategically this phase still has to be incorporated The basic position defended by Belgium sidelined one essential issue: a compro- into an interinstitutional agreement with was that enough funding had to be promise was perilously dependent on the the European Parliament. Negotiations vided to cover all new and existing poli- UK’s willingness to pay its share of the are therefore set to continue under the cies (with a ceiling of 1.15% of GNI cost of enlargement and thus make a Austrian Presidency and the expendi- suggested as a compromise). Belgium concession on the annual rebate it has ture ceilings decided on at the European gave priority to the following catego- received since 1984. Council (n 862 billion or 1.045% of the ries of expenditure: ‘Competitiveness for EU’s gross national income (GNI)) may growth and employment’ (Heading 1a) In the run-up to the June European still be revised slightly upwards. and ‘Cohesion for growth and employ- Council, the Luxembourg Presidency ment’ (Heading 1b). As regards cohesion skilfully and expertly managed to pro- At the start of 2005, there were still policy, it focused in particular on the pose creative draft texts that made major wide variations between Member States’ appropriation for ‘statistical phasing out cuts to the Commission’s proposals proposals, so much so that the pro- regions’ (Hainaut) and for ‘Objective 2’ whilst maintaining a delicate balance posals seemed irreconcilable. Since (regional competitiveness and employ- on the cohesion policy. In that way, the the Commission’s first proposals were ment). Belgium also believed that the Presidency tried to concoct a general put forward in early February 2004, the agricultural agreement concluded in agreement that would divide up the bitter situation within the Council bodies had October 2002 should be adhered to pill equally among all the Member States. remained unchanged with each country in full. simply stating and restating its own natio- This all turned sour when, a few weeks nal position. Besides offering an in-depth In view of the time needed to plan the before the June European Council, the analysis of the proposals, these discus- cohesion policy in the new Member French and Dutch voted no in their refe- sions did little but reveal the lines of divi- States, every effort was made to reach renda on the Constitutional Treaty. The sion between Member States: on the one an agreement at the European Council political climate needed to reach a com- hand there were strong signals from the in June 2005. promise acceptable to all had changed six countries wishing to ‘tighten the purse drastically. In the Netherlands, the coun- strings’ (United Kingdom, Netherlands, In December 2004, an attempt was try’s role as a net contributor to the EU, Sweden, Germany, France and Austria), made to determine ‘the general princi- felt to be excessive, was cited as one of which insisted that the EU’s expenditure ples and guidelines’ for the negotiations the reasons for the disappointing out- be capped at 1% of its GNI. Opposing under the Luxembourg Presidency. The come of the referendum. Claims for these countries were the Commission, failure to reach a consensus meant that n1 billion annual ‘compensation’ imme- which defended its initial proposal (cap- the draft text on the issue was totally diately intensified. London, meanwhile, ping expenditure at 1.24%), and the absent from the Council’s conclusions. felt that the time was not right to make majority of the remaining Member States, the slightest concessions on the British which argued for adequate funding both However, the Luxembourg Presidency’s rebate, citing, in particular, the absence for the Lisbon Strategy and for a cohe- proactive decision, instigated by Prime of additional reforms to the Common sion policy suited to the enlarged EU. Minister Juncker, to make this a key Agricultural Policy.

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3Despite the efforts of the Luxembourg in those countries were considera- Pursuing enlargement of the Presidency and the major concessions bly reduced (by 1.03% in the first Blair European Union that many Member States were pre- package). In the ‘old’ Member States, pared to make, the June European cuts were made in rural development. After 10 new Member States joined Council ended in failure. Nonetheless, Apart from this, the ‘Juncker package’ the EU on 1 May 2004, ending many the ‘Juncker package’ would play an remained largely untouched. years of division in Europe, 2005 saw important role in future negotiations The success of the European Summit more major developments linked to under the British Presidency. on 15-16 December 2005 depended enlargement. first and foremost on whether Tony Blair In early June, Prime Minister Tony Blair would be willing to accept a reduction in Signing of the accession treaty with set the ball rolling with a much com- the British rebate. A general agreement Romania and Bulgaria mented-on speech in favour of a refor- on the multiannual budget was finally Following the completion of acces- med, more modern EU. The multiannual made possible under a compromise deal sion talks in December 2004, Romania budget yet to be agreed was to foresha- based on the Juncker proposal, whereby and Bulgaria signed the Treaty of dow this new Europe, which should focus there would be a permanent structural Accession at an official ceremony on on future-oriented areas like ‘Research reduction to the British rebate excluding 25 April 2005. Accession is planned & Development’, the EU’s external action expenditure linked to enlargement. for 1 January 2007. This said, the EU and ‘Justice and Home Affairs’. has set up a mechanism to ensure that the two countries actually meet their However, it turned out to be unfeasible commitments. If they do not, acces- in the short term to implement a fun- sion could be postponed for a year damental reform of budget structure. until 1 January 2008. For many Member States, chief among them France, compromising the agricul- Any decision to postpone acces- tural agreement of October 2002 was sion will be based on the results of absolutely out of the question. In addi- extensive in-depth monitoring by the tion, there was a broad consensus on Commission to assess the progress the need to stick as closely as possible that each of the countries has made. to the Juncker package. The Commission presented its annual monitoring report on 25 October The solution ultimately adopted by the 2005. Although Romania and Bulgaria British Presidency was to carry on lower- have made significant progress, further ing the overall expenditure ceiling whilst effort is still required. Adopting the also providing additional assistance for ‘acquis communautaire’ is not enough: the main net contributors. Because it they must actually apply it as well. This was only possible to give substantial means creating the administrative and ‘compensation’ to the big net contribu- legal resources needed to implement tors by also cutting back the current the acquis and make it binding. British rebate, the Presidency opted to continue reducing the overall volume Negotiations opened with Turkey of expenditure. Because it was argued At the December 2004 European that the new Member States had a low Council that marked the end of the absorption capacity, the cohesion funds Dutch Presidency, the decision had

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already been taken to open acces- It is expected that the negotiations will only in early October3 2005 that the sion negotiations with both Turkey and be long and Turkey will have much Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY, Carla Del Croatia, provided a number of condi- additional work to do. These nego- Ponte, reported a real spirit of coope- tions were met. tiations are an open process whose ration. The Council could then take a outcome cannot yet be guaranteed. positive decision with regard to Croatia. Turkey had to adopt a number of However, the start of the negotia- However, the Council clearly empha- legislative instruments (Law on tions is a clear signal to Turkey and an sised on 3 October 2005 that con- Associations, new Penal Code, Law invitation for it to commit fully to the tinued cooperation with the Tribunal on Intermediate Courts of Appeal, developments of the European Union would be a key condition for continu- Code on Criminal Procedure, legisla- and the acquis communautaire. ing the accession process. The arrest tion establishing the judicial police and of General Gotovina on the Spanish law on the execution of punishments) Negotiation process also launched island of Tenerife, 7 December 2005, and sign the Additional Protocol to the with Croatia was a crucial event in this respect. Ankara Agreement on the customs In December 2004, the EU made it union between the EU and Turkey. This clear that opening talks with Croatia The Former Yugoslav Republic of Protocol had become necessary due was conditional upon Croatia’s coo- Macedonia (FYROM) draws closer to to the enlargement of the Union to 25 perating fully with the International the European Union Member States. Turkey met these two Criminal Tribunal for the former On 9 November, the Commission conditions and on 3 October 2005, Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the case of issued its opinion on FYROM’s acces- the EU, its Member States and Turkey General Gotovina. In March 2005, the sion application, recommending that it reached an agreement on the negotia- Council adopted the negotiating man- be given candidate country status. The ting mandate, which meant that nego- date but felt that, as yet, there was still European Council of 15-16 December tiations could officially begin. no real sense of cooperation. It was 2005 granted the country this status.

For mal signature in Luxembourg of the Accession Treat y of Bulgar ia and Romania to the European Union, A pr il l © BELGA

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3Belgium supports the accession A security and defence policy NATO still has a key role process and implementation of the focused on Europe As a military alliance, NATO has under- European Neighbourhood Policy gone some profound changes since In 2005, FPS Foreign Affairs organi- Belgium’s security policy is geared the collapse of the Soviet Union. sed courses and training seminars for towards developing a European Nowadays, greater emphasis is placed diplomats and civil servants from the Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) on the dangers of weapons of mass candidate and partner countries. A that itself forms part of a European destruction, terrorism and rogue states. seminar was held in Bucharest in May Security Strategy based on the idea of As far as Belgium is concerned, NATO and senior civil servants from Turkey collective security. The ESDP is formed remains an essential instrument for the and Ukraine were invited to Brussels around a 60,000-strong military pillar, collective defence of the Alliance’s ter- in October and November. The course for which a headline goal has been ritory, for protecting the Allies’ vital for Ukrainian senior civil servants was defined, and battle groups, a rapid interests and as an organisation capa- organised as part of the European intervention force of 1,500 soldiers, ble of contributing to UN peacekeeping Neighbourhood Policy (implementation capable of intervening in complete operations. Thus Belgium is involved of the EU action plan for Ukraine). autonomy within a radius of 6,000 km. in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan In addition, Belgian civil servants con- Belgium participates in these battle and KFOR in Kosovo. NATO is also an tinue to participate in European sup- groups in collaboration with France, excellent means of ensuring interope- port programmes such as Twinning Germany and the Eurocorps countries. rability between national forces. and TAIEX (Technical Assistance The European Defence Agency works The ESDP and NATO complement one Information Exchange Office) – orga- to support the development of military another. Within NATO, Belgium is keen nised by the Commission – within the capabilities. The last crisis management to develop the ESDP as a European framework of institution building, a instrument is a civilian pillar, associ- component of the Alliance, guarantee- process that aims to develop modern ated mainly with the police, strength- ing balanced dialogue and decision- and efficient public services capa- ening the rule of law, civil administra- making. ble of applying the acquis commu- tion and protecting civilians as part of nautaire. These two programmes have stabilisation and reconstruction initi- More effective transposition been greatly expanded: they are now atives in conflict zones. The Federal of European directives aimed not only at the 10 new Member Policy Declaration of 11 October 2005 States and the four candidate coun- calls for additional efforts in this area Belgium has taken a number of mea- tries, but also at the Western Balkans over the coming months to strength- sures to improve the process of trans- and the countries involved in the en coherence and cooperation be- posing European directives. European Neighbourhood Policy (i.e. tween the various ministries involved, A proactive working group examines countries bordering the EU to the east including Defence, Foreign Affairs/ each draft directive from the point of and south). Development Cooperation, Interior and view of future transposition. Meetings To step up Belgian involvement in Justice. of this working group (proposed direc- these European support programmes, The ESDP very clearly serves the inte- tives) and those of the working group our FPS organised its third major infor- rests of citizens and will be an impor- on transpositions (directives now in mation and awareness-raising session tant integrating factor within the EU in force) are attended by the European in May 2005, aimed at federal and the years ahead. coordinators. The coordinators each associated bodies and semi-public represent a FPS, Region or Community. institutions. They monitor European legislation rela-

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ting to their particular FPS, Region or had been ongoing for almost two Results 3 Community and work to ensure that years, in Brussels as well as in New Although some of the compromises this legislation is correctly transposed York. reached fell below what had initially into national legislation. FPS Foreign Affairs and IRRI/KIIB been hoped, the Summit did achieve Eurtransbel, which has been operatio- (Royal Institute for International some major successes. The interde- nal since 11 July 2005, is an interactive Relations) organised two seminars, pendence between peace and secu- database developed by FPS Foreign one on the Report of the High-level rity, development and the respect for Affairs in collaboration with Fedict Panel entitled A more secure world: human rights was reaffirmed unani- (Federal Public Service Information our shared responsibility and the other mously. The achievements of the 2000 and Communication Technology). It is on implementing the Millennium Goals. Summit, the key role of the Millennium a high-quality mechanism that allows The Minister for Foreign Affairs pre- Goals in the development strategies the European coordinators to monitor sented his opinion in January 2005 and the need to make Africa a prio- the transposition of European direc- to the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs rity issue were all consolidated. The tives into Belgian law, from the time Committee. The Senate adopted a decision to set up a Peacebuilding the directive is proposed right through substantial report on the reform of the Commission should make it possi- to transposition and application. The United Nations and Belgium’s associa- ble to offer better support to coun- database also catalogues the pre- tions for the United Nations (Vlaamse tries emerging from conflicts so that litigation procedures (procedure be- Vereniging voor de Verenigde Naties they go on to achieve long-term sta- tween the European Commission and and Association pour les Nations bility and development. The ‘standing the Member State concerned before a Unies) also organised a number of Human Rights Council’, if negotia- case is referred to the Court of Justice) activities on this issue. tions on the practical details yield the and the procedures pending before Non-governmental organisations were desired outcome, should be a more the Court of Justice of the European kept informed of the preparations. efficient, legitimate and credible body Communities. Given the wide range of topics on the than the Commission on Human Rights These measures together have redu- Summit agenda, FPS Foreign Affairs had become. ced the number of late transpositions. had to coordinate between the vari- Other reforms will require further work, ous departments so that joint Belgian based on the principles adopted at the positions could be reached. A docu- Summit i.e. reform of the Economic and 3. Belgium in a multilateral ment containing these positions can Social Council, management reform at context be viewed on the FPS Foreign Affairs the UN Secretariat, creation of a UN website. Environment Organisation, reform of United Nations Millennium The Summit itself, which was initially the UN development system, strength- +5 Summit intended to assess implementation of ening humanitarian organisations and the Millennium Development Goals, developing relations between the UN The Millennium +5 Summit was was also given the task, by the UN and regional organisations. held in New York between 14 and Secretary General, of establishing the 16 September 2005. Belgium was UN’s priorities in the current internatio- Failures represented by the Prime Minister, nal context and approving the reforms However, the Summit also failed in a Mr Verhofstadt, the Minister for Foreign needed to implement them. number of areas. Plans to expand the Affairs, Mr De Gucht, and the Minister Security Council to include new mem- for Development Cooperation, Mr De bers fell through as the various pro- Decker. Preparations for the Summit posals failed to attract the necessary

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3support. It also proved impossible to With this in mind, a special repre- high time that the OSCE stepped up agree on a definition of ‘terrorism’ sentative, Pierre Chevalier, has been its action to help curb such traffick- acceptable to all parties. Further, dis- appointed to provide assistance to the ing. cussions on the important issue of Minister. An OSCE unit has been set non-proliferation and nuclear disarma- up within our FPS and our Permanent Economic dimension: spotlight ment ended in stalemate. Representation in Vienna has been on transport In early October, the IRRI/KIIB (Royal expanded. As a member of the Troika Institute for International Relations) and (comprising the previous, current and As regards the economic dimension, the EPC (European Policy Centre) orga- succeeding chairs) Belgium has also Belgium proposes to pursue the policy nised a joint public seminar to assess been able to monitor the activities of of modernisation. In view of this, the the outcome of the Summit. The work the current chair, Slovenia, and to pre- first step was to appoint Bernard Snoy, of the United Nations Department over pare its future policy. a former member of the World Bank the next few months will focus on Minister De Gucht and his special Board and the EBRD (European Bank implementing the decisions taken at representative have already made for Reconstruction and Development), the Summit. political contacts ahead of the chair- as general coordinator for the OSCE. manship. They have also taken part At the 13th meeting of the Economic Towards the Belgian in various forums and conferences, Forum in Prague, where Belgium was Chairmanship of the OSCE including the OSCE Economic Forum represented by Pierre Chevalier, we in Prague (May), the OSCE Conference floated the idea that priority should In 2006, Belgium will take up the chair- on anti-Semitism and other forms of be given to ‘transport in the OSCE manship of the Organisation for Security intolerance in Cordoba (June) and the zone’. Our proposal was very favou- and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Mediterranean Seminar on migration rably received. Belgium’s aim is This Pan-European body has 55 and integration in Rabat (September). essentially to help open up the south- member countries spanning the geo- ern Caucasus and Central Asia and graphical area from Vancouver to Presidency of the FSC to foster regional cooperation. The Vladivostok. They are united in pursuing Permanent Council approved the pro- the same objectives: promoting secu- As far as the politico-military aspects - posal on 7 July 2005 and transport rity, democracy, human rights, the rule the chief dimension of the OSCE - were is now the central theme of the eco- of law, a free economy and environ- concerned, the most important task nomic and environmental dimension in mental protection. In view of this, the was to prepare for and execute the 2006. task awaiting Belgium is not to be taken presidency of the dialogue body, the lightly and our FPS has put a great deal FSC (Forum for Security Cooperation). Combating intolerance of effort this year into preparing for the The presidency of the FSC rotates Belgian Chairmanship. every four months and Belgium held The human dimension was, to a large The OSCE is totally compatible with the post from 1 September until the degree, devoted to the ongoing fight Belgium’s vision of international coo- end of December 2005. against intolerance. These efforts peration i.e. a multilateral approach Our presidency focused on two culminated in the Conference on with the focus on respect for human themes: combating the proliferation of anti-Semitism and other forms of into- rights, democracy and social develop- weapons of mass destruction and the lerance in Cordoba. The focus of the ment. The forthcoming chairmanship is issue of small arms and light weapons. conference was on the need to be another chance for Belgium to further Small arms and light weapons are traf- more active in implementing previous strengthen its commitment within the ficked in considerable quantities with commitments. The following topics OSCE. very destabilising consequences. It is were also on the agenda: respect for

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human rights in the fight against ter- in Central Asia and the launch of the was clearly in evidence3 during prepa- rorism, democratic elections and new ENVSEC initiative in Eastern Europe. rations for the United Nations Summit technologies, guarantees of a fair trial (New York, 14-16 September 2005) and migration and integration. A semi- Belgium also provided extrabudgetary mentioned above. nar on the latter issue was held in funds to tackle human trafficking, there- Where policies linked to most glo- Rabat in the framework of the Dialogue by reaffirming its firm commitment balisation-related issues are con- with the OSCE’s Mediterranean part- to this issue. Our financial aid was cerned, FPS Foreign Affairs deals with ners, which Belgium chaired in 2005. invested in a project to help Ukrainian the international dimension whilst the orphans, in police reform in Kyrgyzstan policy foundations are the responsibi- Providing expertise and finan- and in the publication of a manual to lity of other FPSs. In this area, our FPS cial resources help transition economy countries to fulfils a support and coordination func- improve their business and investment tion and ensures the coherence of the Belgium testified to its belief in the climate. In the conflict zone of South policies being applied. OSCE’s approach by supplying the Ossetia (Georgia), Belgium is helping to As a firm believer in effective mul- organisation with expertise and finan- finance needs analysis for the recon- tilateralism, Belgium has opted for cial resources. This year, some 15 struction and economic development an approach to globalisation-related Belgians took part in OSCE missions of the region. The OSCE Academy in issues that involves international insti- in the Balkans and held posts at the Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) also benefited tutions and organisations. This has Secretariat in Vienna. The Office for from Belgian financial aid this year. proved especially successful in areas Democratic Institutions and Human To promote press freedom, Belgium such as sustainable development, with Rights (ODIHR) benefited from the ser- financed an OSCE campaign for the efforts being focused on achieving a vices of 77 Belgian observers, who decriminalisation of libel and defama- harmonious blend of economic growth, were present at elections in Albania, tion and against excessive compen- social progress and a responsible Macedonia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, sation. In Serbia-Montenegro, Belgian environmental policy, and also in rela- Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. financial aid was used to help combat tion to sensitive issues where human Belgium also shouldered its responsi- money laundering. lives and happiness are often at stake bilities in financial terms, in particular e.g. asylum, international migration and by providing extrabudgetary resour- combating human trafficking. ces for a number of projects on the 4. Belgium and globalisation FPS Foreign Affairs has also often ground. Particular attention was focu- exercised its support and coordina- sed on the Environment and Security Although technological developments tion role in defending and following Initiative (ENVSEC), a joint OSCE/UN/ have led to increasingly globalised up Belgian positions within internatio- NATO project whose aim is to cata- trade, powers over economic activities nal organisations such as UNCTAD, the logue environmental problems in a are still generally limited to individual FAO and the OECD, and in such areas bid to prevent conflicts. As part of countries and their national territories. as science policy, general develop- this initiative, Belgium supported the Such political fragmentation not only ment issues and economic coopera- Moldova Trust Fund, set up to finance prevents many countries from join- tion, including topics like raw materials the destruction of hazardous chemi- ing the world economy but also pre- and energy. cals in Moldova, the project ‘Network sents an obstacle to the establishment In the same way, the international Development of Local Actors from the of peace, security, development and dimension of the fight against terro- Sava River Basin on Water Resource prosperity. rism also comes within the remit of the Management’, the ‘Aarhus Centres’ The increasing awareness of the need Globalisation Directorate. project on environmental protection to better manage ‘global public goods’

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3Doha Development Agenda: In September 2005, the former EU An agreement was also reached difficult progress Commissioner Pascal Lamy became on a package of development-rela- the new Director-General of the World ted measures including real conces- Following the failure of the Cancún Trade Organisation. He called on the sions on assistance and new aid for Conference in September 2003, the key players to get the negotiations the Least Developed Countries. Japan Doha Round of negotiations (begun in moving again by a series of parallel, and the US – under pressure from the 2001) entered a period of reflection. politically tricky, concessions, in the EU, amongst others – made significant The different groups that had formed following areas: concessions to the Least Developed in the run-up to Cancún were conso- • for the EU, market access for agricul- Countries on duty and quota free lidated: the G20, including the most tural products; market access. advanced developing countries and the • for the USA, internal support for far- As Belgium is very much in favour of emerging economies: Argentina, Brazil, mers and anti-dumping measures; enhanced legal protection and develop- Bolivia, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, the • for Brazil, services and industrial ing countries becoming more involved Philippines, India, Indonesia, Mexico, tariffs (NAMA); in world trade via more appropriate Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Tanzania, • for India, industrial tariffs (NAMA). regulations, it has continued to em- Thailand, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and phasise that the commitments it has South Africa; the G10, comprising This method aimed to produce tan- undertaken imply, in return, equiva- the net importers of agricultural pro- gible, identifiable results that would lent commitments on the part of other ducts: Bulgaria, Iceland, Israel, Japan, breathe new life into the negotia- developed countries. At the same time, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Norway, tions. In early October, the large tra- Belgium wants the largest and most Taiwan, South Korea and Switzerland; ding blocs put their agricultural pro- developed of the developing coun- and the G4, made up of the EU, the posals on the table. Agriculture was tries to no longer benefit automatically USA, India and Brazil. seen as a key sector that could spur from the advantages given to the Least on progress in other sectors, such as Developed Countries. Late July 2004: framework agreement services and industrial products. Although it took some time for the Belgium has an open, export-based Doha Round negotiating ‘machine’ to In mid-November, however, it became economy, in which industry and the ser- start up again, the key players surpri- clear that the various positions would vice sector play a key role. It is there- singly succeeded, thanks in particular remain so divergent that it would not fore in its interests that the Doha to the help of Brazil and India, in con- be possible to reach concrete arrange- Round ensures Belgian industrial goods cluding a framework agreement in late ments, involving actual figures, at the and services better access to foreign July on the negotiating modalities (no Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. markets. actual figures specified) for: • industrial goods (Non-Agricultural At the Hong Kong Conference, the EU Market Access - NAMA); managed to achieve a balanced result • services; whilst fully preserving the level of • trade facilitation by reducing regula- ambition decided on at Doha. However, tions; much political will will be needed if the • development-related aspects. deadlines agreed on at Hong Kong are The EU set itself the target of attaining to be met. a balanced result in the various sec- tions of this framework agreement.

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Sustainable development also been placed on the agenda in hazardous chemicals3 and pesticides in and environmental protec- other organisations, namely the OECD, international trade and the Stockholm tion: an ongoing concern UNECE (United Nations Economic Convention on ‘persistent organic pol- Commission for Europe), the Council of lutants’ (POPs). Funded in part by our The United Nations Millennium Summit Europe and the EU. Directorate-General for Development confirmed the horizontal and across- The harmonisation of Belgium’s posi- Cooperation, a UNEP (United Nations the-board nature of sustainable devel- tions on sustainable development Environment Programme) study is cur- opment: in other words, this topic, takes place at monthly meetings orga- rently looking into possible synergies which covers human rights amongst nised by Coormulti. This is a perma- between the various treaties on bio- other issues, has become a general nent coordination and consultation diversity. concern in a whole range of political body for multilateral and global issues, Belgium attended a number of other fields. the area covered by the Directorate- meetings at which the problems of The declaration confirms the aim General for Globalisation. Consultation sustainable development and environ- being pursued, namely to achieve takes place with the other directorate- mental protection were major themes. sustainable development by implemen- generals in our FPS and with the fede- Our FPS helped to draw up the Belgian ting Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg ral and regional partners. position defended at the following Action Plan. These actions should The UN Millennium Summit gave the events: result in the integration of three com- go-ahead for examining the possi- • 23rd Session of the Governing ponents of sustainable development bilities of creating a more consistent Council of the UNEP/Global Ministerial – social development, economic devel- institutional framework, i.e. making the Environment Council, which delivered opment and protection of the environ- United Nations Environment Programme a strong message on environmental ment – as mutually supporting pillars. (UNEP) into a fully-fledged UN environ- issues ahead of the Summit; Combating poverty, altering unsustain- ment organisation. • Advisory Board meeting of the able production and consumption pat- As regards environmental topics, the ‘Environment and Security Initiative’, terns and protecting and managing climate has been given a prominent a joint UNEP, OSCE, UNDP(United natural resources are both the aim and place on the international agenda. It Nations Development Programme) the underlying principle of sustainable was one of the main topics discussed and NATO programme (Belgium is development. at the G8 meeting in Scotland during now one of the donors); Within the United Nations, the the British Presidency of the EU. Since • negotiating a global management Commission on Sustainable the Kyoto Protocol came into force strategy for hazardous chemicals; Development monitors implementation on 16 February 2005, countries have • eighth Conference of the Parties to of the Johannesburg commitments. In been able to participate in the emis- the United Nations Convention to 2005, the round dealing with water, sions trading system. FPS Environment Combat Desertification (UNCCD); sanitation and human settlements led has launched an appeal on this sub- • first Conference of the Parties to the to a negotiated outcome, with coun- ject via our diplomatic missions. Convention on Persistent Organic tries and international institutions pled- Another topical theme of importance Pollutants (POPs); ging to implement the Johannesburg for the environment is creating links • 11th Conference of the Parties to commitments in a more efficient way. between different multilateral trea- the Climate Convention and first The negotiators have already star- ties. Currently, work is under way to Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto ted preparing for the round on energy, examine possible synergies between Protocol; industrial development, atmosphere/ the Basel Convention on waste, the • second Conference of the Parties air pollution and climate change. The Rotterdam Convention on the prior to the Cartagena Protocol on theme of sustainable development has informed consent procedure for certain Biodiversity;

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3• 28th Conference of the Parties to the Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). ceed it in 2006-2007, will give the Antarctic Treaty and 24th session of Our FPS closely monitors discus- EU’s neighbourhood strategies, which the Commission for the Conservation sions within the various international for most countries include a section of Antarctic Marine Living Resources; bodies dealing with issues of immi- on migration policy, a more concrete • fifth United Nations Forum on gration and asylum, human traffick- focus. Forests; ing and illegal immigration, namely • meetings of the International Whaling the IOM (International Organisation for The high-level Asylum and Migration Commission; Migration), UNHCR, IGC, GCIM, ICMPD, working group, in which our FPS acts • meetings of the ‘Green Diplomacy’ the United Nations, OSCE and the as Belgian spokesperson, is wor- network of experts (contact persons Benelux Economic Union. king on an ‘overall migration strategy’ within the foreign ministries of EU that aims to create a partnership with countries); As regards the EU, high-level discus- third countries as part of an integra- • first preparatory meeting for the Pan- sions were held with Russia, the United ted approach. To this end, migration European Ministerial Conference on States and the Western Balkans on the management capacity needs to be the Environment, which will be held in issue of migration. On 21 November, stepped up in these countries, mainly Belgrade in 2007. the Foreign Affairs Council adopted in the Euromed zone but also in coun- the Council’s conclusions on immi- tries such as Ukraine and Libya. As Asylum and immigration: gration and external relations and the regards Ukraine, it has been agreed to enhanced cooperation new strategy on Africa, which con- start up a pilot project to assess the tains a major section on migration. regional protection level (i.e. the level As regards international migration The Council’s conclusions calling for a of refugee protection in the region). In policy, it has become clear that devel- strategy on the external dimension of 2005, the link between migration and oping international dialogue, impro- the area of freedom, security and jus- development received particular atten- ving consistency at both national and tice were also approved. tion, at both national and European international level and enhancing coor- The December European Council dis- level, and within the various federal dination by bolstering national and cussed the ‘Global approach to migra- public services. NGOs also focused international governance are vital tion: Priority actions for improving on the theme, as emerged from the goals. migration management’. joint seminar organised by the King The regional hearings of the Global A strategy to facilitate the visa pro- Baudouin Foundation and our FPS Commission on International Migration cess was also developed and prio- during the visit of the Deputy Director (GCIM), in which our FPS took part, rities on readmission were defined, General of the IOM, Mrs Ndioro Ndiaye. have helped to achieve this. The report thereby giving the external dimension A ministerial conference on the same on the hearings was published in of European immigration policy a major theme is also planned in Brussels in October. new boost. In line with these new pri- March 2006. It will be jointly orga- At the prompting of the Belgian orities, Belgium, together with the IOM nised by our FPS and the IOM. The Presidency of the OSCE-Mediterranean and the future Austrian Presidency, European Commission has published partnership, a seminar was organised Belgium will organise a ministerial con- a communication on Migration and in Rabat on the theme of ‘Migration ference in Brussels on 24-25 January Development, which sets out con- and Integration’. The IGC (intergovern- 2006 on Security, Freedom, Justice, crete guidelines for a future action mental consultations on asylum, refu- Prosperity and Migration. Countries plan. Coherence between migra- gees and migration) drew up a new bordering the EU will be invited to tion policies was also on the agenda strategy. Portugal’s António Guterres attend. The Conference, and the nine at the December session of the IOM became the new United Nations High or so expert meetings that will suc- Council. ‘Migration and Development’

44 Part 3 3. Policy

was one of the key issues at the meet- aim being to incorporate into the pro- Anti-Terrorism Unit at3 the Directorate- ing, where Belgium’s Ambassador for gramme various activities linked to General for Multilateral Affairs and Immigration and Asylum Policy was a immigration and migrants. Globalisation has been strengthened guest speaker. by the addition of a coordinator, an Belgium had to set out its position Our FPS has helped fund a number attaché and a Consular Affairs contact on a European ‘approach’ to econo- of projects on immigration, asylum, person. mic migration, following publication of human trafficking and illegal immigra- The Anti-Terrorism Unit is responsi- the Commission’s ‘green paper’ on the tion and is in regular contact with civil ble for the internal coordination of all subject. As the meeting showed, the society organisations involved in these aspects of the fight against terrorism idea of a debate on the need for or issues. and is the central point of contact for appropriateness of this type of migra- It plays an active liaison role in moni- our diplomatic missions abroad. It also tion is still encountering reluctance in toring secure flights organised by FPS liaises with other FPSs linked to com- Belgium. Interior to repatriate illegal immigrants bating terrorism, including in the frame- and asylum seekers whose applica- work of the College for Intelligence In 2005, a number of bilateral pro- tions have been denied. and Security. blems relating to the identification and The Unit’s coordinator represents readmission of illegal immigrants came Combating terrorism Belgium in various international bodies up for discussion. Talks were held with and conferences (EU, UN, Council of India, Morocco, Algeria, DRC, Russia, Since 11 September 2001, combating Europe), and works together with the Liberia, Guinea, Pakistan, Armenia, terrorism has become a priority at both relevant departments to draw up the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Turkey. international and national level. Our FPS positions that Belgium will defend at There is regular dialogue with these plays an important role in this respect, these meetings. countries on migration-related issues. given that terrorism strikes internation- The Unit also monitors major interna- With Bosnia-Herzegovina talks were ally and has no borders. tional security developments at both opened on a readmission agree- The knowledge and information that political and diplomatic level. It allows ment with the Benelux countries. our diplomats, with their unique inside our FPS to be more actively associated Discussions resumed with Nigeria and view of events abroad, have amas- with the work of national and interna- a new Benelux proposal is now on the sed on terrorism and radicalisation tional NGOs that specialise in fighting table. can sometimes be extremely useful for terrorism and studying terrorist pheno- Our FPS made contacts in Morocco Belgium’s specialist anti-terrorism units. mena. with immigration officials and with the Our diplomats keep a very close eye Hassan II Foundation and the internation political and geopolitical events in onal organisations (UNHCR) and NGOs the countries where they are based, on 5. Belgium and human rights (Médecins sans Frontières) work- the training of extremist and terrorist ing in the field. Belgium intends to groups and on the measures and initia- The International Criminal develop a more strategic approach tives taken by the local authorities. Court with Morocco to the issue of migration. At the suggestion of the Ambassador Strengthening the Anti-Terrorism Unit The Rome Statute establishing the for Immigration and Asylum Policy However, our FPS does more International Criminal Court was adop- and the Foreign Affairs Policy Unit, an than simply collect information via ted on 17 July 1998 at the United interdepartmental meeting was held Belgium’s diplomatic missions abroad. Nations Diplomatic Conference of in connection with the new three- In Belgium too, terrorism is increasing- Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment year development programme, the ly in the spotlight. Accordingly, the of an International Criminal Court. The

Part 3 45 3. Policy

3Statute now has 100 member states, the Rome Statute and continues to 6. Belgium and development including Belgium. contribute actively to the smooth run- cooperation ning of the ICC, in particular at the The Rome Statute took effect on 1 annual sessions of the Assembly of Of the many development coopera- July 2002, since which time individu- States Parties. Belgium is also repre- tion projects undertaken by Belgium in als guilty of crimes stipulated in the sented on the staff of the International 2005, we have chosen three to pre- Statute may be brought to trial before Criminal Court by Mr Serge Brammertz, sent here. If you would like more infor- the Court. The crimes involved are who was appointed by the Assembly mation on this subject, please visit the extremely serious, for example war of States Parties to the senior posi- development cooperation website at crimes, crimes against humanity and tions of Deputy Prosecutor and Head www.dgdc.be genocide. of Investigations with the Prosecutor’s Office. Fast Track Initiative The International Criminal Court has the status of a permanent international Investigation into crimes commit- The Fast Track Initiative (FTI) was set up organisation; it is independent of the ted in Darfur in 2002 in the wake of the Monterrey United Nations but is linked to it via On 31 March 2005, the Security Consensus. the UN-ICC Relationship Agreement Council referred the situation in It is a global partnership that brings signed on 4 October 2004. By virtue Darfur, Sudan, to the International together developing countries, develop- of its status, the International Criminal Criminal Court. After carefully exam- ment agencies and donor countries to Court is different from criminal tribu- ining the documents supplied by the ensure accelerated progress towards nals set up under the auspices of the International Commission of Inquiry on the second Millennium Goal of uni- United Nations to investigate crimes Darfur, amongst others, the Prosecutor versal primary education for boys and such as those committed in the former decided, on 1 June 2005, to open an girls by 2015. All low-income countries Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. investigation into the crimes commit- that demonstrate serious commitment The ICC ‘supplements’ national juris- ted in the region since 1 July 2002. to meeting this target can receive FTI dictions, i.e. the national court issues a This brings the number of situations support. definitive ruling provided that it is con- being investigated by the Prosecutor of sidered able to pursue – and wishes the ICC to three (Uganda, Democratic The FTI aims to promote more effective to pursue -- alleged criminals. Republic of Congo and Sudan). In aid for primary education by maximising In addition, access by victims to the October 2005, as part of its investi- donor collaboration, alignment and har- ICC’s judicial procedures is provided gation into the situation in Uganda, the monisation in the supply of aid and by for under the Rome Statute. This is not International Criminal Court issued its cutting transaction costs for beneficiary the case for the special international first arrest warrants against five lea- countries. It fosters dialogue between criminal tribunals. The unique feature ders of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance all partners around educational policies of this institution is that its Articles of Army). and aims at sustained growth in aid in Association provide for a special fund In 2005, the Court became fully ope- the primary education sector for coun- to help victims (and their families) of rational and began the specifically tries that demonstrate they can use this crimes falling within the remit of the judicial phase of its work. aid effectively. It promotes adequate and Court. The fund is managed by high- More information can be found on the sustainable internal funding for educa- level and internationally renowned spe- website of the International Criminal tion and encourages the sector to take cialists in protection of human rights. Court at www.icc-cpi.int more responsibility by presenting annual Belgium was very active in the nego- reports on policy developments and the tiations which led to the adoption of results achieved.

46 Part 3 3. Policy

The bulk of the funding remains bila- The Directorate-General for Mali, Rwanda, Senegal,3 Tanzania and teral. However, the FTI has also set up Development Cooperation and the Uganda in 2005, and Burundi and DRC two trust funds: Fast Track Initiative in 2006. The Catalytic Fund, which provides The DGDC has been actively involved short-term funding (two or three years) with the FTI from the outset. As part Missions by Belgian to countries with too few donors. of this initiative, the DGDC contribu- Cooperation to help tsunami These countries, which are special- tes to the Catalytic Fund set up at victims ly selected by the fund management the World Bank in November 2003. committee, can use the aid to imple- The Fund provides short-term funding In addition to the B-FAST missions to ment their policies and, based on the (two to three years) to help countries assist tsunami victims, regeneration results obtained, attract new donors. that cannot mobilise enough donors to and reconstruction projects took place The Education Programme Devel- fund their education plan, the ultimate in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles opment Fund, which enables countries aim being to attract other donors to and the Maldives, funded by the that have no credible education plan provide long-term funding for the edu- Directorate-General for Development - and are therefore not eligible for the cation plan. The DGDC’s annual contri- Cooperation. With a total budget of Initiative - to prepare one. bution over the period 2004-2007 is a 15 million, Belgium could make a a 1 million. significant contribution to the large- To be eligible for the Initiative, a coun- scale international aid effort. try must have a finalised Poverty The Fast Track Initiative includes Right from day one, rescue teams and Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and most of the donors active in the edu- first-aid equipment bought by the Red a credible, effectively implemented cation sector, i.e. around 30 coun- Cross were sent out to Indonesia and comprehensive strategy plan for edu- tries and international organisations. Sri Lanka; with the help of Ministry cation sector development. Participation in local dialogue is not of Defence, food aid was distributed conditional on being an FTI contribu- to victims via the WFP (World Food Organisation of the FTI tor. The FTI has seven bilateral donors: Programme). The FTI Secretariat is managed by the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Italy, However, whilst this emergency aid the World Bank under the guidance of the UK, Sweden and Spain. Some USD was important, the priority soon had the Steering Committee. The Steering 239.19 million has been pledged over to shift to minimising the aftermath of Committee provides overall policy gui- the period 2005-2007, including USD the disaster. To this end, actions were dance to the FTI, gives direction to 192.19 million by the Netherlands. undertaken, and are still ongoing, right the Secretariat between partnership across the affected area, with the sup- meetings and helps ensure coordina- The total allocated for 2005 is USD port of international organisations and tion. It is composed of two co-chairs, 77.2 million. Nine countries have Belgian humanitarian NGOs. These UNESCO, the World Bank and the last received FTI support since March actions included: former co-chair (Sweden). Belgium 2004, including Niger, a DGDC con- • funding projects to relaunch econo- has been chosen as a co-chair from centration country. There are 13 eli- mic activity, via the FAO, in Sri Lanka, 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006. The gible countries including Mozambique Indonesia and the Maldives. These UK was co-chair between January and and Vietnam, both concentration coun- projects purchased fishing mate- December 2005. tries. There are plans to extend access rial (engines, nets, etc.) and repaired to the FTI to a further 25 countries damaged boats, thereby enabling fish- in the years to come. Of these 25 ermen to get back to work; countries, nine are Belgian concentra- • building houses out of durable mate- tion countries, namely Benin, Bolivia, rials, as soon as plots - based on a

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3new cadastre - were declared safe extraordinary natural disaster certainly table evaluation schedule that yields for building; contributed to the success of fund- results, to carry out thematic evalua- • rebuilding a port in the Maldives with raising initiatives among the general tions and to provide methodological the UNDP; public. support to operational departments • funding various activities offering new during targeted evaluations (D0.2 is means of subsistence to population The Follow-Up, Evaluation and also referred to as the ‘internal evalua- groups, in conjunction with the ILO Statistics department tion department’). Overall development and the UNDP; cooperation policy and strategy, cover- • involvement in the World Bank’s Trust Follow-Up, Evaluation and Statistics ing the wide variety of players in the Fund for reconstruction in Indonesia, (D0.2) is one of the departments of the field, is the responsibility of the special and more specifically in the region of Directorate-General for Development evaluator, S0.4. Aceh on the island Sumatra, to the Cooperation. It was set up as part of tune of USD 10 million over three the ambitious project to foster a results- The evaluations are planned in consul- years. based management culture at all levels tation and collaboration with the opera- Obviously, this government aid came of the DGDC. This aim was set out in tional departments. The annual plan is on top of the very considerable amount the Director General’s management approved and amended by the DGDC’s given by the Belgian public through plan. Created in mid-2003, the depart- management committee. The official the 12-12 Consortium and similar ini- ment really got into its stride in 2005. in charge of each evaluation is either tiatives, which Belgian NGOs used to a representative of the operational assist the victims of the tsunami. The As regards evaluations, the department department concerned or a D0.2 staff high level of media exposure for this has three basic tasks: to draw up a sui- member.

48 Part 3 3. Policy

Besides carrying out evaluations, D0.2 D0.2 represents the Belgian authori- 3 also works to expand the background to ties within the OECD’s Development the evaluations. This part of its work is Cooperation Directorate (DAC) in four based on three main factors: areas: 1. The expansion of the public procure- • Network on Development Evaluation ment market has paved the way for • Managing for Development Results expert consortia and the increasingly • Working Party on Statistics (the D0.2 international nature of consultancies. member in charge of statistics was 2. Balanced steering committees are set elected vice-chair of this working up for each evaluation, and provide party in 2005) support throughout the evaluation pro- • ‘Task Force for the Triple C initiative’ cess. This offers a wider perspective (European Union): six evaluations on and ensures a participative approach. application of the Maastricht Treaty 3. As regards content, special attention is paid to planning and analysing relevant evaluation topics with the various players and in the various partner countries. This means that more emphasis can be given to the really criti- cal issues within Belgian development cooperation.

D0.2 also provides support with results-based follow-up. In the broadest sense, this covers developing and operating the management data processing system, which brings together all the statistics on Belgian development aid so that reports can be produ- ced on the subject for the OECD. In a more limited sense, it involves supplying methodological support in connection with the expanded remit of project and programme managers. This can range from developing instruments to assist project managers in their follow- up tasks to providing advice on revi- sing procedures and evaluating subsidy requests.

Part 3 49 3 3. Policy

50 Part 3 Annexes A

Annexes 51 Annexes

DG A Bilateral Affairs (B)

DG SO.1 Consular Affairs Crisis Centre (C)

SO.4 Special Evaluator

DG B&B SO.2 Development Budget and Postal Inspectorate Cooperation Management Control (D) Chairman Ministers of the Board of Directors DG SO.3 P&O European Affairs Regions and Personnel and and Coordination Communities Interf. Organisation (E)

Policy Units

ICT P&C DG Information and Press and Legal Affairs Communication Communication (J) Technology

DG P&S Multilateral Affairs Protocol and Security and Globalisation (M)

52 Annexes Organisational chart of the FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation

DG Bilateral Affairs (B)

DG SO.1 Consular Affairs Crisis Centre (C)

SO.4 Special Evaluator

Policy Units

ICT P&C DG Information and Press and Legal Affairs Communication Communication (J) Technology

DG P&S Multilateral Affairs Protocol and Security and Globalisation (M)

Annexes 53 A Annexes

54 Annexes Map of worldwide FPS representations (Belgium and abroad) (December 2005)

Annexes 55 Acknowledgements A

Photos: • FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation • BELGA

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Acknowledgements 57 Activity Report

This brochure is published by Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. 2005

Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation