The IATI Conference was held on 20th and 21st October in The Hague. It was opened by Bert Koenders, Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation; John Rwangombwa, Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury in Rwanda; Milan Rocen, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Montenegro; and Minendra Rijal, Minister for Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, Nepal. The conference brought together more than 150 Ministerial and high level participants from donors, partner countries, civil society and aid information experts to explore aid transparency within the broader context of ownership, domestic accountability and mutual accountability.

The conference showed that aid transparency is high up the political agenda and that there is strong support for improving transparency in order to strengthen aid effectiveness and implement the Accra Agenda for Action. It also showed that partner countries and civil society organisations still face huge challenges in accessing high quality information about donor aid flows and activities.

The conference provided an important opportunity to hear feedback from stakeholders on the IATI proposals on the information to be published and the code of conduct. This will help to ensure that the proposals are realistic to implement and meet the key priorities expressed by partner countries and civil society organisations. Agreement on what is published under IATI is expected to be reached in the coming months.

The conference demonstrated that there is now a strong consensus on the core information that should be published, including more detailed information on when, where, and how aid is spent, on future aid flows, and on conditions. This information must be published in a way which is flexible, to meet country specific needs.

For details on other IATI events, click here