Cordaid and Niza are hosting an expert meeting on the role of natural resources in fragile states. The immediate cause for this expert meeting was a General Hearing in the Dutch Parliament on the 19th of February about the Dutch policy on fragile states. To our great concern, the Dutch policy did not clearly mention the role of natural resources as one of the main causes for fragility. Therefore, Cordaid and Niza wrote a policy paper in which both NGOs are calling upon the Dutch Government to include the role of natural resources in their implementation strategy relating to fragile states.

To put the pressure on and to keep the theme on the Dutch political agenda, Cordaid and Niza decided to organise an expert meeting. The interrelationship between natural resources and fragile states is complex. The meeting therefore is about exchanging information and coming up with possible steps forward. We aim to provide in-depth information on the topics of the resource curse, transparency initiatives (PWYP and EITI) and due diligence practises by the corporate sector.

Main subject of expert meeting
Core issue of the expert meeting is the increasing pressure on natural resources, the extractive industry and the impact it has on fragile states, especially in Africa. Natural resource governance is of major importance for the development of these fragile states. Several fragile states are suffering from the resource curse. Many oil and mining projects are questioned over their negative impact on a local and national level, while resources could also be contributing to development. Extraction of natural resources often leads to conflict, increased corruption, non-transparent business deals and in the worst cases to permanent environmental degradation and serious human rights violations. Therefore, the trade in natural resources, revenues generated by this trade and the way these revenues are distributed should be made more transparent, in order to help to prevent conflict and to ensure that the local population benefit from their own natural resources.

Supporting development in fragile states is a major objective of the Dutch national development and foreign policy. Wit this expert meeting, we aim to contribute to a continuing dialogue on the role of natural resources in fragile states. With the active participation of relevant stakeholders, we want
to come up with recommendations for national and international policies that will help prevent the resource curse.

Who are invited?
The main target groups of this meeting will be:
-    Policymakers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-    Policymakers of the Ministry of Economic Affairs
-    Members of the Ducth Parliament and their assistants
-    Academics & researchers
-    Representatives of the corporate world and financial world
-    NGO-experts

Outcome of expert meeting
The main outcome of the expert meeting is the exchange of information between participants, from the perspective of different stakeholders. Furthermore, we would like to come up with 3 of more policy recommendations which are directly linked to the resource curse, due diligence and transparency initiatives. These policy recommendations will be sent to Dutch minister of Development Bert Koenders and the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen.