Parliamentary Alliance for Development

The Vienna Conference
On June 11-13, 2005 the ‘Mobilizing Parliamentarians for Development’ conference brought together parliamentarians and heads of staff from 25 international parliamentary organizations and assemblies, along with multilateral organizations, bilateral agencies, think tanks, foundations and institutes, in Vienna, Austria. The conference was co-organized by Austrian Development Cooperation and the World Bank.

During the conference participants agreed to create an informal parliamentary alliance for development in order to create synergy among them, share and disseminate information and knowledge and to increase the impact of their work. It was agreed to come together in two years time to measure progress and look at next steps.

Moving Beyond the ‘Year of Development’
During the 2005 ‘Year of Development’ the international community focused on development through the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, the UN World Summit in New York, and the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong. Parliamentary organizations and assemblies have likewise focused on the international development agenda with major conferences and events like the Vienna conference.

Agreements were reached on debt cancellation for the most impoverished countries and for dramatically increasing aid, half of which will go to Africa. Formal commitments were taken by developing countries to improve governance and transparency. WTO members agreed to eliminate farm export subsidies by 2013, work toward dismantling trade barriers in manufacturing and services, and to provide greater protections and support for developing countries. Now parliaments will have to approve and implement these decisions.

On November 22, 2005 the European Union, the world’s largest donor, released The European Consensus on Development, a new vision for development which will now need to be ratified by the European Parliament.  Significantly, this new development policy “acknowledges the essential oversight role of democratically elected citizens’ representatives.  Therefore it encourages an increased involvement of national assemblies, parliaments and local authorities.” 

Parliamentarians have a role to play in ensuring that the commitments made in 2005 deliver results. Indeed, they will be largely responsible for holding their governments to account for the promises made in Gleneagles, New York and Hong Kong. The stakes for donor country parliamentarians are high - if donors do not demonstrate development results, particularly in Africa, it will be difficult for them to build support for development assistance within their electorates in the future. Correspondingly, parliamentarians in developing countries must demonstrate that debt relief and increased aid is not wasted through corruption and mismanagement.

The Vienna Process - with its global reach and high level of inter-organization cooperation – can serve as a vital tool for keeping parliamentarians focused on the international development agenda in 2006 and beyond.