HUNGARY POLICY FRAMEWORK The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Hungary is responsible for planning and coordinating the Hungarian international development cooperation and humanitarian aid activities via the International Development Cooperation Department. The main decision-making body related to the development cooperation policy and strategy is the Development Cooperation Governmental Committee, which is an inter-ministerial forum, chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The work of the Committee is supported by an inter-ministerial Working Group of Experts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also responsible for coordinating the work of the Inter-ministerial Working Group for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid. The expert-level working group coordinates humanitarian aid issues between the relevant line ministries and the National Directorate for Disaster Management and is chaired by the state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. HUN-IDA, a not-for-profit company contracted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is the implementing agency of the Hungarian development cooperation activities. It is mainly responsible for organising and implementing technical assistance programmes with partner countries and for preparing, monitoring the calls for tender, providing advice and taking part in the capacity building activities. In March 2014 the government adopted a new framework strategy for development cooperation and humanitarian assistance (2014-2020). The strategy outlines the directions, objectives and priorities of the Hungarian development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Among other changes, the government intends to increasingly privilege the role of bilateral cooperation and reduce the percentage channelled through multilateral institutions, which covered until recently 80% of the Hungarian development cooperation. A new law on cooperation for development has been approved by Parliament in October 2014 and will enter into force in July 2015: the new legal framework facilitates the implementation of multi-year programming cycles. Furthermore, in line with the new priorities and strategy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is planning to establish a new International Development Cooperation Agency or an individual unit within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade dedicated to international development cooperation in 2015. Hungary is also considering accessing the DAC Committee. Official web site of the Ministry: http://www.kormany.hu/en/ministry-of-foreign-affairsand-trade Policy documents on Development Cooperation: The strategy http://nefe.kormany.hu/download/e/36/c0000/international%20development%20coopera tion%20and%20humanitarian%20aid%20strategy%20of%20hungary-v%c3%a9gleges.pdf 1
The most recent act on International Development Cooperation and International Humanitarian Assistance http://nefe.kormany.hu/download/a/39/d0000/nefe%20t%c3%b6rv%c3%a9ny_en%20v% C3%89GLEGES%20lektor%C3%A1lt.docx 1. DOMESTIC PUBLIC FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT 1.1. DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILISATION - New initiatives to support tax reforms: A protocol on cooperation and exchange of information in tax matters was signed with Sudan. Hungary also initiated a Technical Cooperation with Turkmenistan and it participates in seminar organised by the OECD aimed at developing countries. - Share of Domestic Resource Mobilisation in PFM: none in 2014. - Hungary is not willing to give up tax exemption on projects. - Tax evasion and transfer pricing. Hungary launched several seminars on transfer pricing in collaboration with the OECD. - Hungary has ratified, is a member of and/or supported: (i) The United Nations Convention against Corruption (Merida) and (ii) the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions; (iii) the Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative (STAR); (iv) the CARIN Group; (v) the Council of Europe Civil and Criminal Law Conventions on Corruption; (vi) Open Government Partnership Initiative (OGP); and (vii) the International Anti-Corruption Academy. It furthermore supported (i) the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information; (ii) the International Tax Dialogue, (iii) the European Council-OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters; (iv) the OECD Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting; (v) the Forum on Fight against VAT Fraud; and (vi) the OECD Global Relations Programme. 1.2. MAINTAINING SUSTAINABLE DEBT LEVELS - Support mechanisms: none. - Actions taken in 2014: none. - No specific interventions were made or are planned to prevent aggressive litigation against HIPCs. 2. PRIVATE FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT - CSR: The policies of the Hungarian Government match closely the aspiration laid down in Europe's 2020 Strategy to revive the CSR strategy of the European Union and the 2011 Communication from the Commission entitled "A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility". - Remittances: no activities in 2014. - Trade and development: no data provided. 2
3. INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT 3.1. OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ODA individual commitments /gap to agreed targets (total ODA, Africa, LDCs) - In 2014 ODA increased by almost 20% to EUR 118 million, representing 0.12 % of Hungary s GNI. - To reach its individual ODA target of 0.33% of GNI by 2015, Hungary would need to increase its aid by EUR 206 million over its projected increase of EUR 8 million. Source: OECD-DAC Online. EU annual questionnaire on FfD for 2014 - "Realistic, verifiable actions for meeting individual ODA commitments until 2015" taken in 2014: The Hungarian Parliament passed an Act on international development cooperation and international humanitarian assistance which plays an important role in defining new directions for the implementation of international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance policies and achieving goals set by the strategy of international development cooperation adopted by the Government in March of 2014. The law aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation with partner countries and increase the efficiency of implementation. It defines the principles of the policies as well as the basic rules of planning, implementation, funding and controlling. - Measures to contribute to the EU27 target to channel at least 50% of EU collective ODA increase to Africa: scholarships extended to a higher number of Sub-Saharan countries. - Hungary declared that it will not be able to reach the target of 0.15%-0.20% ODA/GNI to LDCs by 2010 (and onwards). 3
3.2. FUNDING FOR TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE - Hungary is dedicated to developing international climate finance measures to fulfil the commitment of developed countries to jointly mobilize USD 100 billion per year by 2020 from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources of finance, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation. However, the government is still in the initial phase of building up the infrastructure necessary for scaling up climate financing. As a part of this process, in 2014, Hungary adopted the International Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Strategy for 2014-2020, which defines climate financing as an important area in our future activity. 3.3. FUNDING FOR ADDRESSING BIODIVERSITY CHALLENGES - None. 3.4. TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFER - Projects in 2014: none. 4. COMBINING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT - No financial instruments reported. 5. USING DEVELOPMENT FINANCE MORE EFFECTIVELY - Aid effectiveness strategy: Hungary has not published a plan for implementing global Busan commitments. Hungary conducts regular consultations with NGDOs and other stakeholders. The government started to develop a new Government website on development and humanitarian issues. Coordination within central governmental bodies has been strengthened and institutionalized in order to ensure policy coherence and effectiveness. The MFA s role and competence has been clearly defined in the new Framework strategy for development cooperation and humanitarian assistance policy (2014-2020). - Country ownership: no comments. - Transparency: Hungary does not publish aid information according to IATI standards. - Mutual accountability arrangements account for 10-25% of Hungary s priority countries. - Focus on results: Hungary participates in country-level results frameworks processes and platforms in 50-80% of its priority countries and actually uses these platforms in less than 10% of them. - Joint programming: no joint programming in Hungary s aid activities, but some programming synchronisation. - Sector concentration and division of labour: Hungary limits the sectors in which it intervenes. - Countries in fragile and conflict situation: no policies reported. - Public-private engagement: Hungary has one dialogue mechanism in place. 4
6. GLOBAL AGENDA AND GOVERNANCE - No comments. 5