The EU wants to end its practice of targeting development aid at 30 top-performing "donor darlings" by sending more to neglected countries as part of a new code of conduct. The code, presented to EU development ministers in Bonn, would improve coordination and cut waste in spending the region's EUR50 billion ($66 billion) annual aid budget.

European donors compete to give to economically vibrant countries such as Tanzania, Ghana and Vietnam, while giving little to "orphans" such as Malawi, Niger and weaker economies with poorer governance records. The code would encourage EU states to cut the number of countries to which they donate, and in the chosen countries focus on only two sectors where the donor has expertise. It would also require member states to publish an annual "development aid atlas" highlighting areas where money is concentrated or spread too thin.

Louis Michel, development commissioner, said there were "too many overlaps and too much fragmentation" between donors. Coordination would become increasingly important as the EU increased its aid to 0.56 percent of gross national product by 2010 from about 0.39 percent today, half the world's total. He said cases such as in Tanzania, where donors run about 600 health projects, should no longer occur. "Developing countries represented in Bonn said better coordination could improve efficiency but some ministers, speaking privately, were worried donors could gain extra influence if they acted in a more unified way.”

In related news, Reuters reports that UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said on Wednesday that "The UN and the EU need to coordinate better how they fund development programs to ensure a more efficient use of cash. Migiro started her post in February and is responsible for the UN's relations with the 27-nation bloc, a major world donor". Migiro told reporters on the sidelines of a visit to the European Parliament: "The EU has very much been involved in development issues as an entity and also as individual member states. Right now we have seen the EU is giving a lot of resources not only through the UN but also bilaterally" - Migiro said. "As the EU members also do take part in projects on the ground, I think the challenge we will be facing together is coordination and harmonization so that we put to good use the resources that we get".