The Minister for Development Assistance, Gunilla Carlsson, tells the newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” that she is disappointed that the UN agency’s strategic plan for the next four years does not mention human rights or strengthening democracy.
Sweden is one of the UNDP’s largest contributors, and even with the reduction, Swedish aid to the agency for next year will still be more than 110 million dollars.
Meanwhile, the National Audit Office has criticised the government and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency over budget support allocations to eight poor countries, mostly in Africa.
The audit office says the government’s guidelines for the support are unclear and the wrong countries may be receiving the aid, which last year was almost 140 million dollars.
