Estonian objectives and priorities for development cooperation policy are outlined in the Principles of Estonian Development Cooperation approved by the Riigikogu (Parliament) in January 2003. More detailed pol- icy is set out in the Strategy for Estonian Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid for 2011-2015 and its Implementation Plan for the years 2011-2012, which were approved by the government in January 2011.

Estonian development cooperation does not include specific Aid for Trade (Af T) programmes. Since 2008, Estonia has made annual financial contributions to the WTO Enhanced Integrated Framework and to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) Global Trust Fund.

Official development assistance (ODA) individual commitments /gap to agreed targets (total ODA, Africa, and LDCs)

• After several years at a constant level, Estonia’s ODA increased to €18 million in 2011, representing 0.12 per cent of its gross national income (GNI) .
• To reach its individual ODA target of 0.33 per cent of GNI by 2015, Estonia would need to increase its aid by €42 million – which is not feasible in the current economic situation, given the potential high vulnerability of Estonia’s small and open economy. The Estonian government is aiming towards a more realistic 0.17 per cent for ODA by 2015.
• “Realistic, verifiable actions for meeting individual ODA commitments until 2015” taken in 2012 include the following:
• A slight increase in the development budget;
• Government’s decision to double the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s development cooperation and humanitarian aid budget line on bilateral and multilateral trade for 2013;
• Striving to reach the 0.17 per cent target by fixing a minimum-level contribution in the abovementioned strategy, which will be subject to yearly updates and possible upward corrections depending on the economic situation.

No measures were taken or are planned to contribute to the EU27 target to channel at least 50 per cent of an EU collective ODA increase to Africa. Estonia does not currently foresee any significant bilateral development cooperation activities in Sub-Saharan Africa, as Estonia has neither financial nor human resource capacity to add value and implement effective government projects. Estonia is open to responding to the targeted interests of African states to the e-Government projects and annually supports young voluntary work in the region of sub-Saharan Africa.

However, a large majority of Estonian ODA is multilateral – over half of it is channeled via the EU budget and the European Development Fund (EDF), and a large share to UN funds/programmes and the International Development Association (IDA). For example, 50 per cent of IDA activities are targeted towards Africa. Estonia strongly supports the increased focus of these organizations on LDCs, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, which indirectly increases the share of funding for Africa in Estonian ODA as well. In addition, given long-term humanitarian needs in Africa, a large portion of Estonia’s humanitarian aid has been directed to Africa’s ‘for- gotten humanitarian crises’ (Sahel, Horn of Africa, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire etc.) via voluntary contributions to international humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR, UNICEF, ICRC, WFP etc.

Estonia has declared that it is not able to reach the target of 0.15-0.20 per cent of ODA/GNI to LDCs by 2010 and onwards. Estonia respects the Brussels Programme of Action for LDCs, in the strictest sense of Para 83. Estonia belongs to Category (d) – i.e. donor countries that “exercise individual best efforts to increase their ODA to LDCs with the effect that collectively their assistance to LDCs will significantly increase”. The majority of Estonian ODA is channeled through multilateral organizations (EC, EU budget, EDF, IDA, UN programmes), which focus their activities on LDCs.

Estonian bilateral development cooperation is focused primarily on countries to which it can offer added value given its own experiences, and which are ready to move towards a democratic society built on human rights. Consequently, Estonia’s priority partner countries for bilateral development cooperation are Georgia, Moldavia, Ukraine and Afghanistan. Besides these countries, Estonia is cooperating with project partners – developing countries interested in Estonia’s experience in some particular area.

When Estonia acceded to the EU in 2004, it took on the agreements concluded by the EU with third countries. For example, the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (affecting relations with Russia and the Common- wealth of Independent States countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine) regulated trade relations.

In 2012, Estonia opened an embassy in India, to enhance political and economic (trade and investments) relationships; it is planning to open another in Brazil (2013-2014).

Improved effectiveness of support to developing countries

• Mutual accountability arrangements account for 10-25 per cent of Estonia’s priority countries.
• Focus on results: Estonia participates in country-level results frameworks and platforms in less than 25 per cent of its priority countries owing to minimum manpower in its embassies and/or a lack of donor coordination activities in the partner country.

Specific actions in 2012 to improve the transparency of aid flows:

• Preparations for an open standard of aid transparency in process.
• Yearly reporting to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) as a non-DAC member;
• Functioning Estonian development cooperation online database (since 2009), accessible to the public through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website.
• Exploring opportunities with IATI compatibility.

Estonia has also an Approved Development Cooperation Country Strategy Paper for Georgia (October 2012). The mechanisms for data collection and reporting are:

• Online database (filled in by governmental institutions);
• e-Correspondence.

The monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are:

• Estonian diplomats in the beneficiary country;
• Random audits by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
• Monitoring and evaluation outings from Tallinn.