makingit_12_pp42-45_policybrief_print 11/11/2012 19:45 Page 44
POLICY BRIEF
‰economic growth, sustainable development and finance for development. It should be recognized that without the pro-active and constructive cooperation and collaboration of middleincome countries, no meaningful global development agenda, strategy or goal can be formulated or achieved. (vii) The international community should embrace South-South and triangular cooperation based on knowledge exchange and technology partnerships, as effective ways for achieving development goals, and anchor these in the post-2015 development agenda. In particular traditional donors and international organizations should consider triangular cooperation modalities to sustainably support capacity-building efforts, especially in middle-income countries, and to ensure long-term results and impact of development activities beyond the immediately visible outputs. Also, middle-income countries and international organizations should actively support bilateral and multilateral South-South cooperation, both on regional and global levels. (viii) The international community should advance its analysis on the link between a country’s connectedness and its population’s prosperity as the ultimate goal of development. In particular, international organizations, financial institutions and their academic partners should intensify their empirical research and policy analysis in this field, and collaborate with each other to leverage each other’s knowledge. Member states should encourage their academic institutions and development agencies to actively engage in programmes that advance the understanding of the nexus between knowledge networking, economic network governance and prosperity, and support ongoing efforts in this regard. n
44 MakingIt
Cooperating with China in Africa By LUKE PATEY and DANIEL LARGE During the past five years, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) donors, international organizations and NGOs have made progress on building development cooperation with China in Africa. China is playing an increasingly significant role in Africa through aid, trade, investment and political cooperation. Cooperating with China will facilitate the long-term ability of OECD donors in particular to manoeuvre in a changing landscape of international development. But such cooperation continues to be an organic, evolving process, with few precedents, rules and standards. Although often framed as trilateral cooperation, existing activities remain small-scale and largely bilateral, with little African ownership. As a result, how to cooperate with China effectively and how to ensure that this spurs sustainable economic and social development in Africa are pressing questions. The Danish Institute for International Studies’ policy brief, Cooperating with China in Africa, offers the following recommendations for policymakers on how to lay the groundwork for cooperation: l Cooperating with China in Africa requires concurrent action in Africa, China and at home. Cooperation efforts cannot simply be managed out of the
Beijing or Africa offices of OECD donors. Rather, they require triangular action. l Recognize the diversity of China’s engagement in Africa beyond aid. China’s wider economic role beyond aid is increasingly important and needs to be factored into OECD donor development programmes. Trade and investment from China’s state-owned and private corporations, as well as small-sized traders, has a much wider impact in many African countries than Chinese aid. l Approach African partners on both cooperation and coordination with China. The involvement of African partners is critical in fully realizing the benefits cooperation with China can provide for sustainable development. African partners should be involved early on, preferably from the inception. Build on and adapt previous and existing relations with Chinese institutions in China to establish cooperation efforts on development in Africa. The African embassies and offices of donors have not led initiatives to cooperate with China in Africa. Rather the policy initiative has come from OECD donor capitals and been steered forward by the embassies and offices in Beijing. l Cooperate with a variety of Chinese institutions. There may be tangible benefits to working with more technically-orientated line ministries, government administrations, independent confederations and