28 October 2013 The Somali Government and the international community today established a joint steering committee to manage the Somalia Development and Reconstruction Facility (SDRF). The joint committee will provide strategic oversight and guidance for the development and the reconstruction of Somalia through the New Deal. His Excellency Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon today launched the SDRF based in Mogadishu. The committee will be made up of members from the Somali Federal Government, multilateral and bilateral partners as well as international organizations. “We are firmly committed to collaborative and effective engagement with the international partners and country-level stakeholders in the implementation of the New Deal for Somalia. And we will continue this inclusive, pragmatic, and consultative process during the three-year life of the Somalia Compact,” Prime Minister said at the SDRF launching event in Mogadishu. The committee will meet monthly and will provide direction on significant issues of coordination, implementation and financing of the New Deal Compact that was agreed at Brussels Conference on September 16. It will develop and monitor a single strategic framework to insure (a) alignment of external aid to the national budget (b) provision of external support through the national treasury system, and (c) transparent reporting of external funding in the line with the public financial management reform. The Prime Minister explained the task of the joint committee and emphasised the importance of the committee’s work and program. “The SDRF will enhance coordination and alignment of external assistance in a transparent manner that would increasingly use in-country systems overtime. Also, the Compact explicitly assumes the Somali government and the international partners to adhere to certain critical donor code of conducts to maintain the mutual commitments envisioned under the New Deal principles”. **ENDS** Ahmed Adan New Deal Communication Coordinator Office of the Prime Minister Mogadishu – Somalia
