Effectiveness of Aid Focus of International Conference in Ghana

Economic ministers and senior leaders open a three-day conference in Ghana's capital of Accra Sunday on the effectiveness of donor aid to developing countries.

The Accra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will gauge progress since a similar meeting in Paris in 2005.

The conference was organized by the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the government of Ghana.

It will look at making aid contributions more transparent and at ways of allowing countries which receive aid to channel the money through their national budgets to better manage it.

Representatives will also address the practice of donor nations providing aid based on economic requirements they expect the recipient nations to follow. Critics say the conditions often reduce the effectiveness of the aid countries receive.

Some information for this report provided by Rueters.