ABSTRACT
Belgian ODA is essentially the domain of two departments: Development Cooperation (responsible for about 60% to 70% of total ODA) and Finance (about 25%). Minor contributions are disbursed by the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Health, Agriculture, and Education. These amounts consist mainly of contributions to multilateral organisations. In addition, regional authorities (communities and regions) are showing more and more interest in international relations and development initiatives. Although these regional authorities gained more international competencies during the last reforms of the Belgian Constitution in 1993, development cooperation as such remained explicitly a federal competence. In financial terms, the contributions of the regional authorities are still modest.
