On 23 January 2024, the Cabinet approved the Development Cooperation Policy Plan 2024-2027 prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The plan has been devised with the aim of implementing Latvia’s development cooperation policy. The document sets out specific measures for practical implementation of the Development Cooperation Policy Guidelines for 2021–2027.
The EU Eastern Partnership countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia and support for civil society and independent media in Belarus), the Central Asian and African countries have been selected as geographical priorities.
In order to implement the planned measures, EUR 1 863 813 have been allocated in the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 2024; the amount is intended for grant competitions and long-term development cooperation projects in line with the needs expressed by partner countries. One of the tasks is also to promote Latvia’s involvement in the implementation of development cooperation projects financed by the EU and other donors; the Central Finance and Contracting Agency will play an important role in that, having been entrusted with additional new functions and established a Development Cooperation Agency under its authority.
Latvia will provide support to partner countries in public administration capacity building and strengthening the rule of law, business development, promotion of democratic participation and gender equality, education, climate, and other fields. Digitalisation, for its part, will be a supporting instrument for strengthening the capacity of partner countries in all those areas.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will announce an annual call for grant project applications in the coming days to support the partner countries. The competition will be published in Latvijas Vēstnesis, the official publisher of the Republic of Latvia, and on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.