The High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-3) will take place from 2-4 September 2008, in Accra, Ghana. This meeting is open to journalists and a media centre will be available.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, the World Bank, OECD and partner countries have been key players in the two-year work stream of the world-wide preparations for the event which marks a milestone in the annals of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

The Forum, which brings together Presidents, Ministers and heads of bilateral and multilateral development agencies, donors and global civil society organizations from more than 100 countries, will take stock of progress made in implementing Paris Declaration (PD) commitments, identify bottlenecks and challenges, and determine actions donors and partner countries need to take to make aid more effective.

The Accra event will evaluate progress in meeting the commitments outlined in the PD, endorsed on 2 March 2005 in the French capital. At that time, multilateral finance institutions, developed and developing countries promised to increase efforts to harmonize and align their policies and practices and to manage aid resources to achieve maximum results with a set of monitorable benchmark actions, indicators and time-bound deliverables. Twelve indicators of aid effectiveness were developed as a way of tracking and monitoring progress against the broader set of partnership commitments.

The Forum will open with a discussion on "Setting the Context: Progress since Paris, and meeting aid and development effectiveness challenges beyond Accra", which will build on the findings of the 2008 monitoring survey, the progress report for Accra, the first phase of the evaluation of Paris Declaration implementation and other reviews.

This will be followed by the launch of the "Marketplace of Ideas" which aims to promote innovative practices and lessons in aid effectiveness through information and knowledge-sharing, among the HLF participants. Countries and organizations will display posters and written materials that highlight their experience with harmonization, alignment, and managing for results - all actions to improve aid effectiveness.

There will also be nine "Roundtable Meetings" giving participants an opportunity for in-depth discussions about their work on aid effectiveness.

The "Ministerial-Level Meeting" will conclude with high-level discussions and negotiation around key issues. This will culminate in the endorsement of a ministerial statement--the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) --that aims at deepening implementation of the Paris Declaration.

Accra is expected to generate a critical mass of data and home-gown deliverables to spur economic growth and reduce poverty. The Forum is also expected to have an impact on the 22-25 September 2008 UN Africa Summit and the MDG Summit in New York on development and poverty reduction as well as the "Financing for Development" follow-up meeting in Doha in December 2008 on the scaling up of development financing.

President Donald Kaberuka is expected to lead AfDB experts at the Ministerial-level and Roundtable meetings, as well participate in a BBC television debate and a press conference to round off the 3-day event.