Development and Cooperation


	Contributions from the Column Facts and trends As Cancún approaches: Bundestag debate and new NGO campaign Ahead of the Cancún world trade talks: lots of issues still unsettled BMZ budget 2004 Basic education GTZ's annual report: income growth India plans Interview with Jürgen Wilhelm: 40 years of DED: "Our work will become more political" KfW annual report: lending commitments reduced Lesotho: Lahmeyer found guilty of corruption Cooperation with Namibia 8-9/2003		[ BMZ budget 2004 ] According to a cabinet decision on July 2, the budget of the Federal Development Ministry (BMZ) will rise to ¤ 3.8 billion in 2004, which is just under one percent more than the ¤ 3.768 billion budgeted for 2003. The BMZ sees this as a sign that the Federal Government is serious about its pledge to increase development spending to 0.33 percent of gross national income by 2006. CDU/CSU MP Peter Weiss, however, claims that the chance of meeting that objective is being pushed far into the future. In actual fact, the BMZ budget is smaller than promised, he says, because if one excludes the extra funds for fighting terrorism, what the government proposes amounts to less than the sum earmarked under medium-range financial planning for 2002 to 2006. (ell)