Commissioner Piebalgs will visit Burma/Myanmar on 12-14 February. He will be the first Commissioner to meet the President. Since the impressive reform agenda began to take shape after the new civilian Government took office, the EU has repeatedly said it would support reform. Therefore, he will announce additional funding from the EU to encourage the transition and to assist the country's fight against poverty. During the visit he will travel to Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon to meet the President, senior government ministers, Aung San Suu Kyi and other important interlocutors. The visit will allow assessing the progress on the ground, to further encourage reform and to gauge how the EU can even better support the change process.

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The European Commission has approved funding for projects that will work towards further stability and security in the Niger delta region and give young people there better perspectives for their lives. Programmes will provide training and employment for young people, help in fighting corruption and organised crime and improve access to drinking water and better sanitation. The EU will also strengthen the Nigerian justice sector and the electoral cycle and support governance reforms. One important aspect of the new support will be to strengthen Nigeria's capacity to manage its own funds.

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A range of proposals to make trade and development instruments work hand-in-hand to ensure real poverty reduction across the world are presented by the European Commission today. The proposals aim at reinforcing the trade capacities of developing countries by making trade part of their development strategy. And to ensure we hit our target, the EU is currently looking into better ways of differentiating between developing countries to ensure the world's poorest countries receive our biggest help. The role of trade is underlined in the proposal as one of the key drivers to support development, stimulate growth and to lift people out of poverty. Furthermore, today the EU calls for all developed economies to match its significant levels of market access to developing countries.

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In the framework of Bill Gates' visit to Brussels to present the "Living Proof" campaign, Commissioner Piebalgs and Bill Gates met to discuss their respective work in development cooperation and explore ways to launch future partnerships.

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On the eve of the second anniversary of the earthquake that struck Haiti, the European Commission launches today in Port-au-Prince a new housing programme to repair and rebuild safe homes to the benefit of more than 60 000 displaced people. This new €23 million programme will be implemented together with local communities, the municipalities and the Haitian Ministry for Public Works. It is part the part of the European Commission's action to support the country to recover from the disaster which claimed the lives of more than 220,000 people and affected 3 million others. The two years that followed the earthquake were no less challenging – Haiti was affected by Hurricane Tomas and is suffering from the worst cholera epidemics of the past century. The years ahead will not be easy either, but the long-term goals of stability and development are still fully valid to address Haiti's situation.

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Today, the European Commission published its biennial report on Policy Coherence for Development. It shows that the EU and its Member States have improved the way they make sure that their policies in various areas contribute to development objectives and to the global fight against poverty. The study focuses on progress in five key areas: trade and finance, climate change, food security, migration and security. At the same time it also underlines that there is a continued need to better integrate the development dimension in the design of other EU policies, focusing on benefits and synergies.

Full text of the report

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