Increased funding for technical cooperation in development policy

The Knowledge Bank was established under Norad (the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) on 1 March 2018 to coordinate and strengthen technical cooperation and knowledge-sharing in areas where Norway has particular experience and expertise.

‘Developing countries must be able to choose their own path to becoming sustainable, welfare-based societies. Strengthening the capacity of these countries to mobilise domestic resources is vital. We therefore intend to step up our cooperation on taxation under the Tax for Development programme. This is in line with the promise made by the Government in 2015 to double funding for  tax-related technical cooperation by 2020,’ said Mr Astrup.

There are currently a number of specific programmes for technical cooperation under the Knowledge Bank. Existing programmes include Tax for Development, Fish for Development and Oil for Development. The Government has now also proposed establishing a programme on Digitalisation for Development.

‘The Norwegian public sector has developed world-leading digital services, and these solutions could also benefit developing countries. With this in mind, some of the additional funding will be allocated to a new programme under the Knowledge Bank: Digitalisation for Development. The purpose of the programme will be to help ensure that Norwegian expertise in this field benefits developing countries, too,’ said Mr Astrup.