Middle East / North Africa and the Millennium Development Goals ...

Foreword
This study is the English version of the original German report that has
been published back in June 2005. Only a very small number of amendments
have been made for the purpose of this English version.
The study examines the progress that the countries in the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) region have made so far in implementing the international
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Middle East and
North Africa (the MENA region) and focuses on whether and to what extent
Germany is currently contributing to the process and what consequences
may be derived from this state of affairs for German development
cooperation with the region. For the purposes of the study the following
countries are defined as part of the region: all of the Arab countries (including
Mauritania, Sudan, and the Palestinian Territories) as well as Iran. 1
The initiative for this study has been made by the German Development
Institute/ Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) itself. However,
it has been highly appreciated by the responsible divisions of the Federal
German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development/ Bundesministerium
für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ).
Its aim is to contribute, with a view to the MDGs, to a critical analysis of
German policy toward the MENA countries. The BMZ must reflect what
role the MDGs shall play in Germany’s development policy: to what extent
German DC is presently meeting the challenges posed by the agenda;
and how this issue should best be dealt with in the future.
A first draft of the study served as a background paper for a workshop
conducted by the BMZ at the DIE in March 2005. The aim of the workshop
was to review the contribution of German DC to achieving the
MDGs in the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia)
and to identify potential needs for adjustment. The workshop participants
included representatives of the BMZ, the GDI, the Deutsche Gesell-
1 This definition includes all countries – excepting Turkey – covered by the BMZ’s current
regional concept “Middle East / Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region”:
Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya,
Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, the Palestinian (Autonomy) Territories, Saudi Arabia, Sudan,
Syria, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).