FRANCE. AT A GLANCE 1 : Gross bilateral ODA (unless otherwise shown) 1 Source: OECD-DAC. At a glance statistics not yet available for 2015.

Transcription

1 FRANCE AT A GLANCE 1 : Gross bilateral ODA (unless otherwise shown) 1 Source: OECD-DAC. At a glance statistics not yet available for

2 POLICY FRAMEWORK The strategic orientations of France s public economic development assistance policy and their subsequent sectorial and geographic priorities were defined by the CICID (Comité Interministériel de la Coopération Internationale et du Développement) in July 2013, and by the law on French strategy for Development and International solidarity, approved by Parliament in July The new French government decided to initiate a review of the French Development policy, and in July 2014 the Parliament approved a law on the French strategy for Development and International solidarity, which represented an important step in modernisation of French development policy. This law makes sustainable development in all its components the purpose of French development policy. It is based on a multi-actors approach and on a new vision of financing sustainable development, which is in line with the Addis Ababa action Agenda and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The law puts at its core the fight against extreme poverty, as well as fighting climate changes and earth preservation. The law also re-organised some of the French institutions involved in development cooperation: a new body, Expertise France, the French Agency for international technical expertise (Afeti), was created as an Industrial and commercial public establishment (EPIC) under the joint supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The Agency stems from the merger on 1 January 2015 of six institutions active in the field of assistance and international technical cooperation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI), the Ministry of Economy and Finance are jointly responsible for the French development cooperation policy. The primary development operator is the AFD (Agence Française de Dévelopment), which cooperates also with other more specialised organisations. 2 In 2016 the AFD has been integrated in the Caisse des Dépôts Group with the aim of increasing financing volumes directed to developing countries and streamline their operations. In December 2015, France hosted the COP 21 conference and will ensure the presidency of the COP until its next meeting in November At COP 21, 196 signatories, 195 member states of the UNFCCC and the EU, reached a historic agreement on climate change.. Official web site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: French Development Cooperation Agency: Policy documents on Development Cooperation:

3 62A753A58.tpdjo04v_3?idDocument=JORFDOLE &type=general&legislature= DOMESTIC PUBLIC FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT 1.1. DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILISATION, TAX AND PCD France's strategy for domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) in developing countries is a priority. To carry out its strategy, France undertakes specific initiatives to support capacity building in tax administration in developing countries and promotes international coordination on several tax issues. - Increased bilateral cooperation: In 2015, France provided technical assistance to 23 developing countries. Taking into account the high effectiveness of technical assistance directed at tax administration reform, France signed the Addis tax initiative pledging to increase substantially its technical cooperation in the area of domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) by the year To reinforce the capacity of tax administrations, France also provides traineeships through its Schools of Civil Servants (Ecole Nationale d Administration, Ecole Nationale des Finances Publiques ). - Renewal of regional cooperation: Taking a holistic approach to DRM, France has recently launched a program named Regional Integration in West Africa ( ), which aims to increase inter-countries dynamics to develop exchange of information and fiscal harmonization at the local, national and regional levels. Through regional coordination, it will also aim to reduce derogatory fiscal measures taken by countries to attract investors. France is also the main contributor, with the PNUD, of the partnership program dedicated to regional expertise, the Pôle de Dakar, which provides assistance to 17 West and Central African countries as well as two Regional Economic Communities (WAEMU and ECCAS) on their PFM directives. - At the forefront of several multilateral projects, France supports their adaptability to developing countries: o On tax evasion and transfer pricing: France endorses the OECD s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) report and its toolkit adapted for developing countries (the final package is expected to be presented in November 2015). France is also an active member of the OECD s informal task force Tax and development. o On cross-border tax evasion and harmful tax competition: France has contributed financially and is an Advisory Board member of the OECD Tax Inspectors without Borders project. France is currently funding the pilot project for French speaking Africa in Senegal. o On exchange of information: France is the 2 ND contributor to the Global Forum s Africa Initiative (providing ) which promotes the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) in developing countries ( ). France also provides technical assistance to the Burkina Faso, Cameroun and Senegal to put in place an operational structure for the exchange of fiscal information and thus prepare those countries for the 2 nd phase of the peer review demanded by the Global Forum. 3

4 - Assessment of the impact of tax expenditures: France supports these assessments, and has also developed a methodology to value tax expenditures and contributed to seminars on the topic. - Policy coherence for development: In accordance with the commitments made by the international community for more effective aid, France is taking into account the issue of PCD, especially in the context of the CNDSI (Conseil national du développement et de la solidarité internationale). France encourages a coordinated action at the EU level and has promoted this view during the Addis-Ababa conference. - France has ratified, is a member of and/or supported: (i) The United Nations Convention against Corruption (Merida), (ii) the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions, (iii) the Stolen Assets Recovery initiative (STAR), (iv) the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), (v) the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (joint OECD/Council of Europe convention); (vi) the International Tax Dialogue; (vii) the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information; (viii) the Open Government Partnership (OGP); (ix) OECD Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting; (x) Centro Inter- Americano de Administraciones Tributarias (CIAT); and (xi) Compulsory Fiscal Contribution Network. France would be in favour of extending the coverage of the EITI to the forestry sector. Another sector which could be included is telecommunications MAINTAINING SUSTAINABLE DEBT LEVELS - Interventions made or are planned to prevent aggressive litigation against Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs): Prompted by a French initiative, the G20 has welcomed the progress achieved on the implementation of strengthened collective action and pari passu clauses in international sovereign bond contracts, and stressed the importance of accelerating their implementation. It also called on the IMF to further explore market-based ways to speed up incorporation of such clauses to the outstanding stock of debt. France is also continuously promoting sustainable financing practices. - The Paris Forum is a joint initiative of the Paris Club and of the G20 Presidency that aims to foster dialogue among sovereign creditors and debtors on debt issues. 2. PRIVATE FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT - CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility): France created a multi-stakeholder platform on CSR in 2013, that issued several recommendations and a reference text (January 2016) which will be the basis for a new CSR national action plan to be adopted in 2016, as well as the finalization of the NAP on business and human rights. A law was approved in 2014 which defines the objectives and strategies of the French development cooperation. Among the priorities of the new law the promotion of the social and environmental responsibility. Social and environmental responsibility is now an essential component of the action of the French Development Agency. France holds the Presidency of the "Group of Friends of paragraph 47 of the Rio + 20 declaration", to promote corporate transparency in terms social and environmental reporting. France was the main support for the adoption of the EU directive on non-financial reporting in October 2014 which requires major European listed companies to publish a CSR report which will focus on the risks that these companies face and the policies implemented to respond social, environmental, human rights and the fight against corruption. 4

5 - Activities on remittances: (i) the new development law approved in July 2014 underlines the importance of migrants as actors of development and creates a framework for banking operations from banks established in the recipient countries under the supervision of the French banking authorities; (ii) as a follow-up to the study regarding the transfer of funds from France to the Maghreb region; a new study has been launched to explore the potential for the reduction of remittances transfer cost; (iii) In the G7 and G20 frameworks in 2014, France has called for an ambitious treatment of the subject of the reducing the cost of remittances of migrants and for a renewal of the 5% target without time limit; (iv) France has established a partnership with the World Bank for the network of "Champion Cities" the Greenback 2.0 project that extended in 2014 to the city of Montreuil; (v) The implementation by the Forum of International Solidarity organizations from Migration (FORIM) of the PRA-OSIM (Support program for projects of international solidarity organizations formed by immigrants) that allowed the cofinancing of 57 projects. For the 2014 and 2015 editions, an amount of 2 million was awarded to support coaching and co-financing of 80 local development projects; (vi) modernisation of the web site comparing transfer costs for remittances, - Trade and development France, Aid for Trade (Commitments), 2014 Source: OECD CRS Database 5

6 3. INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT 3.1. OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ODA individual commitments /gap to agreed targets (total ODA, Africa, LDCs) - France subscribes to the European commitment approved by the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Development in May 2015, to meet collectively the target of 0.70% ODA/GNI within the time frame of the 2030 Agenda, taking into consideration budgetary circumstances. - According to the preliminary data on 2015 ODA released by the OECD-DAC in April 2016, in 2015 ODA increased from EUR 8,005 million in 2014 to EUR 8,317 million, representing 0.37% of the French GNI. Source: OECD-DAC Online, EU - "Realistic, verifiable actions for meeting individual ODA commitments until 2030" taken in 2015: (i) the percentage of the tax on financial transactions devoted to development will be increased (2014: EUR 100 million, in 2015 EUR 140 million); and (ii) the horizontal policy document on French policy in favour of development and appended to the budget bill 2015 presents for the first time predictions of official development assistance over several years. (iii) Furthermore, in September 2015 the French government announced an increase of EUR 4 billion to its sustainable development finance by Measures were taken to contribute to the EU28 target to channel at least 50% of EU collective ODA increase to Africa: Africa represents a priority area for the French 6

7 bilateral cooperation. Aid allocation is now based, since the CICID of July 2013, on a logic of differentiated partnerships, several targets were decided: for instance, half of government subsidies from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for the Economy and Finance and two-thirds of those of the AFD must focus on 16 priority poor countries in Africa (these targets were reached in 2014) FUNDING FOR TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE - Following OECD standards, France includes ODA and non-oda funding in its assessment on climate finance. In 2014 (latest reporting year) the volume of climate finance reached EUR 2.5 billion. - France contributed $1billion to the Green Climate Fund, which has reached $9.3billion with the first capitalization. The Fund, which is intended for developing countries, must act as a catalyst for large-scale mitigation and adaptation initiatives. It is set to become the cornerstone of climate finance architecture. - France committed to spend by 2020 an extra EUR 2 billion per year on the fight against climate change, raising its total contribution from EUR 3 billion to EUR 5 billion FUNDING FOR ADDRESSING BIODIVERSITY CHALLENGES - Based on an accounting methodology aimed at reflecting as precisely as possible the real expenditure, the French government estimates that in 2014 its total expenditure for biodiversity amounted to EUR 150 million. - France is committed to spending an average of EUR 160 million annually in support of biodiversity and to ensure that 50% of its support to developing countries will also benefit the climate. Ahead of the COP 21 conference, France has set ambitious goals in order to protect the oceans and restore their role in the climate. The target to protect 20% of its seas and oceans with protected marine areas by 2016 will be exceeded TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFER - France co-hosted with Brazil, in September 2015, the launching event of the technology facilitation mechanism in the margin of the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals. This mechanism is indeed the result of a political initiative led by France and Brazil in the context of the negotiations of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development of Addis Ababa. This mechanism is aimed at promoting science, technology and innovation through three pillars: a United Nations inter-agency task team, an online platform and a forum on science, technology and innovation. It is a multi-stakeholder coalition that gathers, inter alia, United Nations entities, the World Bank, Member States, the private sector, civil society and the scientific community. It is one of the major means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and France will fully continue to play its part in the initiatives and efforts undertaken to ensure the success of this mechanism. - The Mission Innovation initiative, launched at COP21 by 20 countries (including France, Germany, Sweden and the UK) and 27 leading investors, aims to double investment for innovation in low-carbon technology and clean energy research in order to incentivise and lower the cost of the development of low-carbon technology and make clean, affordable energy widely available. 7

8 4. COMBINING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT France used the following instruments: (i) Solidarity tax on airline tickets; (ii) International Financing Facility for Immunization (IFFIm); (iii) Debt and development contracts (C2D); (iv) The financial transactions tax; (v) AFD Green bonds; and (vi) contribution by local utilities based on the mobilization of up to 1% of their water and sanitation revenues to finance international cooperation actions. Within the context of the new EU strategy for the private sector development, the AFD intends to further consolidate its participation in EUsponsored blending mechanisms 3. New and/or innovative financial sources used or planned: (i) a new lottery contribution, the solidarity game, will be launched in the course of 2016; (ii) a triangular concessional loan involving GAVI, Gates Foundation and the AFD for immunisation campaigns; (iii) citizen micro-contributions based on credit card transactions and SMS. 5. USING DEVELOPMENT FINANCE MORE EFFECTIVELY - Aid effectiveness strategy: France has not published a plan for implementing global Busan commitments, but published in January 2013 a plan for the implementation of aid transparency principles. It is available via this link: - Country ownership: budget support and sector budget support represent between 10 and 25% of France s programme spending. Use of PFM systems amounts to 10 to 15% of programme spending... France financed about 20 projects for PFM, amounting to approximately EUR 10 million. - Transparency: France published its plan on the implementation of IATI standards. - Mutual accountability arrangements account for over 80% of France s priority countries. - Focus on results: France has adopted a result-based strategy as opposed to a resultdriven strategy where development would solely focus on the short term on highperformant sectors and partners. France participates in country-level results frameworks processes and platforms in over 80% of its priority countries and actually uses these platforms in 50-80% of them. - Joint programming: France instructed its cooperation services to engage in joint programming wherever it was implemented. The instructions sent by France cover the core elements of joint programming: need to develop a shared analysis of the partner country's development strategy, synchronize the European answer to this strategy by determining the distribution and indicative financing of donors by sector. On the next distribution of the "guidance package," France will send more detailed instructions to its cooperation services, particularly with regard to the relationship between the European documents on joint programming and French bilateral documents. In Mali and Chad, France abandoned the use of old national processes in order to retain the European document for joint programming. This has the advantage of not having to carry twice the analysis of the development strategy of the partner country and to present the French commitments. Based on these initial feedback, France could consider generalising the experience, while keeping open the possibility of keep a French 3 AFD-PROPARCO, An European Agenda for AFD Group, October

9 lightened bilateral document if circumstances require it. France has synchronized its programming aid with the development strategies of partner countries. It showed the need for greater flexibility in aid programming: in many cases recourse to interim strategies / transitions proved to be a prerequisite for a full synchronization of French bilateral aid. - Sector concentration and division of labour: no comments. France adopts a rule by which only 3 sectors per country should be targeted in priority. - Countries in fragile and conflict situation: The law on guidance and planning of the French development and international solidarity policy recalled the importance given to countries in crisis and post-crisis or fragile situation. The law states that "the interventions of France in this group of countries will meet their priority needs of human, economic and deepening of the rule of law and will be based upon the major role of the EU in crisis response and supporting the efforts of countries and regional organizations in maintaining peace. Flexible instruments, mainly grants, will be used. The French approach in this area is also part of the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States, it endorsed in This commitment is reflected in many ways in its implementation of programs supporting the development an Agreement ("Compact") in Somalia and South Sudan, integration of a gender marker in strategic planning, etc. - Public-private engagement: The French Agency for Development Cooperation maintains close relations with the private sector, which is represented on AFD s and PROPARCO s Boards of Directors. 6. GLOBAL AGENDA AND GOVERNANCE - Within the IMF, France has invested in growth oriented reforms and has strongly supported the allocation of the remaining part of the surplus profits from gold sales to the Fund for Poverty Reduction and Growth (PRGF). This fund provides loans at low interest rates to low-income countries. Within the World Bank, France was heavily involved in developing the new strategy of the Group. It supported the twin goals adopted at the Annual Meetings in October 2013: elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 and promotion of a shared prosperity by reducing inequalities. The role of France was instrumental to ensure that objectives were reached in a sustainable manner, in each country in which the World Bank is active, regardless of the difficulty of interventions, and to ensure that a greater part of climate-related projects is approved by the Board. Nevertheless, this engagement encompasses other areas, such as its partnerships with the countries in a new approach to country engagement. To increase margins for manoeuvre, France supported the reform of the operational model of the Bank which is aimed to optimize means and increase Bank s commitment capacity. The Bank launched several crisis or emergency responses, in particular in Fragile States such as in Sahel or in Ebola-impacted countries. France is very supportive of an increased collaboration among IBRD, IDA, IFC and MIGA. Eventually, it advocates strongly for the respect of human rights in all the Bank procedures. - France has been very supportive and active during both processes of negotiations leading to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda adopted July 15 th and leading to the new document Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development that was formerly endorsed at the UN Heads of States and Governments Summit in September 2015 during the Special Summit for sustainable development. 9

10 - France played a key role in the success of the COP21 conference held in Paris in Version: 27/06/