At a meeting in Brussels, they are discussing plans to end the practice of tying development aid - requiring aid to be spent on goods or services supplied by the donor country.
The proposal comes from the European Commission, and is supported by development lobby groups.
Aid tying is a widespread practice among donor countries, but it is also widely condemned by economists and lobby groups.
The most striking problem is that it reduces value for money.
Companies in the donor country are shielded from foreign competition.
They can charge higher prices. Aid tying has been described by the OECD as a subsidy to businesses in the donor countries. World Bank research suggests that the practice reduces the effective value of aid by 25 percent.
In addition, the practice is thought to distort the allocation of aid. It encourages donors to focus on projects that provide commercial opportunities rather than those that are most effective at reducing poverty. Some countries, however, say that tying maintains jobs in the donor countries and so increases public support for aid.
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