As the European Union continues its push for enhanced private sector involvement in its development work, many wonder whether businesses will agree to sacrifice part of their profit in order to meet development goals, or even just align themselves with EU aid objectives in partner countries.
EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica certainly understands these concerns. In an interview on the eve of this week’s European Development Days, he stressed to Devex that involving the private sector is “crucial” to meeting the sustainable development goals, given “scarce” public resources that are “insufficient to finance all the investments needed in developing countries.”
The collective resources of the private sector are “far bigger” than the development budgets of even larger donors like the EU and its member states, the commissioner emphasized.