The 2021 Law on Development Co-operation and the 2022-25 National Programme guide Greece’s development co-operation policy. The programme sets out a pragmatic geographic concentration on seven countries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as first priorities and an additional eight countries as second priorities; all countries have strong cultural ties to Greece in Southeast Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Black Sea and sub-Saharan Africa. Greece’s priorities are poverty, health, education and sustainable economic development, while climate, governance, gender and digital transformation are to be addressed across the programme. While Hellenic Aid is responsible for planning and formulating Greece’s development co-operation strategy, the majority of Greece’s ODA is disbursed by the Ministry of Finance to EU institutions.
Greece’s multilateral expenditure almost exclusively comprises core contributions, with the only non-core contributions being programmatic funding to EU institutions. Greece seeks to resolve the challenges facing the Mediterranean, Southeast Europe and the Middle East and advocates for a safe marine environment in the eastern Mediterranean.