The outgoing European Union ambassador to the Pacific says the big issue around aid spending in the region is its sustainability.
Wiepke Van Der Goot has been in the Marshall Islands negotiating with the government on the EU's first ever aid contribution to a trust fund.
He says the trust fund option is one way to improve the long-term sustainability of donor aid.
Mr Wiepke, who finishes up next month, says in four years of overseeing the EU's aid programmme in the Pacific he's become concerned at the lack of sustainability of many projects.
He says aid has to be spent more effectively and the challenge for the Marshall Islands and other Pacific islands is to move away from the traditional project mentality governing donor aid.
