Guinea Bissau

Guinea Bissau is a small country of 36 000 km² and approximately 1.3 millions inhabitants (annual growth rate: 3%), wedged between Senegal and Guinea Conakry. The country has been independent since 1974 following a war of liberation which lasted around twelve years. A significant development in the country's history was the 1980 coup which severed the strategic alliance established during the liberation struggle with Cape Verde.

Guinea Bissau was under a single party system from 1974 to 1991 and the first free elections only took place in 1994 after a three-year transition period. For one year starting in June 1998, the country was embroiled in a political and military conflict with sub-regional implications. The war was followed by a one-year transition period, after which elections were organised in November 1999 and January 2000. In September 2003 a coup led to another transition period, which ended in March 2004 with the holding of fresh parliamentary elections, followed in June 2005 by presidential elections. On 28 October 2005 the President dismissed the government elected in 2004 and invited an alliance of opposition parties to form a new government, which in turn was replaced in April 2007 following a motion of censure by the parliament.

With a ruined economy and a social crisis for the past eight years, Guinea Bissau is a fragile, post-crisis country, and one of the poorest in the world (ranked 172 out of 177, according to the UNDP's human development index).

Following internal discussions initiated in since 2000 with the support of multilateral agencies, the government approved the final version of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper – DENARP1 - in July 2006. The Paper offers the most up-to-date view of the government's economic and social development strategy.

On the basis of studies of the political, economic and social situation in Guinea Bissau and of past and current cooperation, the EC will strengthen its aid to the areas considered as pre-conditions for fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In a post-crisis context, the EC's cooperation strategy centres on two focal sectors and on direct budgetary support amounting to €100 million of programmable aid.

Focal sector 1: Conflict prevention in fragile States – €27 million. The country's weaknesses remain the excessive size of its security forces and its administration, the inefficiency of its judicial system, and corruption. Reform in these areas is therefore a priority.

Focal sector 2: Water and energy – €26 million. Development in this sector has been identified as an essential prerequisite in order to promote economic and social development.

Direct budgetary support – €32 million. During an initial three-year period, the main purpose of direct budgetary aid will be to achieve macro-economic stability in order to further stabilise public finances. It will be accompanied by institutional support and would subsequently to evolve towards budgetary aid with more general objectives (to be reassessed on the occasion of the mid-term review).

Non-focal sectors – €15 million. These measures will supplement the action in respect of the two focal sectors and budgetary aid.