South-South%20and%20Triangular%20Cooperation%20in%20Asia-Pacific:%20%20Towards%20a%20new%20paradigm%20in%20development%20cooperation

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South-South and Triangular Cooperation in
Asia-Pacific Towards a new paradigm in
development cooperation

• Nagesh Kumar
• RIS
• www.ris.org.in

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Context

• Attention paid by developing countries to
  South-South Cooperation (SSC) during 1960s and
  1970s
• Number of initiatives NAM/G-77 UNCTAD, Bangkok
  Agreement, GSTP a.o.
• Early initiatives by developing countries towards
  development cooperation
• E.g. China TAZARA Railway India Tribhuvan
  Highway, ITEC programme
• Buenos Aires Programme of Action 1978
• Set back during 1980s-90s
• Financial crisis- structural adjustment
  programmes emphasizing on the reforms integrating
  with the world economy
• South Commission Report 1990 South existing on
  the periphery of the North, mostly weak and
  powerless in the world arena
• In the new millennium emergence of the South as
  an important player on the world economic stage
• Dynamic, competitive supplier of a number of
  goods and services
• Major gaps between and within the countries
• Different stages of development-
  complementarities have increased
• South-south trade and investments growing rapidly
• Many regional and interregional groupings of
  South take shape

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Relevance of South-South Cooperation

• Replicability of development experiences
• Adaptations for similar factor endowments
• Adapted to poorer infrastructure
• Geo-climatic conditions
• More appropriate scales
• Cost effective solutions
• Low cost of skills and equipments
• Devoid of conditionalities
• Given more appropriateness of skills and lower
  costs, developing countries are better placed to
  respond to the needs and problems of
  co-developing countries.
• Triangular cooperation can achieve much greater
  effectiveness per unit of resources spent
  compared to traditional North-South development
  assistance programmes i.e. a win-win

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Drivers of SSC and TDC in Asia-Pacific

• Rise of emerging countries with accumulated
  development experience
• East Asian NIEs (Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea,
  Singapore, Malaysia), China, India
• Rising diversity or synergies in Asia
• Widening gaps between average per capita incomes
  in Asia
• Rising proportion of intra-regional trade and
  investments
• Rise of regional economic cooperation in Asia
• Growing interest of developed countries in
  supporting SSC in Asia
• Japan as a pioneer

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Emerging trends and patterns in SSC

• Globally SSC in the range of US 9.5 bn to 12.1
  bn in 2006 or 8-10 of total development
  cooperation
• Underestimates due to definitions and coverage
• ECOSOC projects SSC rising to US 15 bn, by 2010
• Given more ambitious commitments made by China
  and India
• No precise figures available for the scale and
  scope
• Take a look at the SSC activity of major
  countries in Asia to get an idea

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SSC Activity of Major Asian Developing Countries,
2006
Country (per capita income, 2006, US) (current account balance as a of GDP) Estimated Scale, US million ( of GNI) Recipient Countries Geographical Focus Scope
China (2016) (9.45) 1500-2000 (0.06-0.08) 86 44 to Sub-Saharan Africa global allocation linked to one China policy Mostly in the form of projects, in kind, technical cooperation and debt relief
India (822) (-1.03) 504-1000 (0.06-0.11) 156 More than 85 to Asia Project oriented, technical cooperation, training and capacity-building, some debt relief bilateral grants mainly to Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan.
Korea OECD/non-DAC 579-885 (0.07-0.10) 123 61 to Asia Technical cooperation grants (31), project/programme grants (22), bilateral loans (31), debt relief for HIPC.
Malaysia (5770) (16.92) 16 (0.01) - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV) and Indonesia Bulk in the form of technical cooperation, some projects
Thailand (3252) (1.05) 74 (0.04) - Mainly CLMV countries 80 in projects, 20 technical assistance
Singapore (29474) (27.49) - - Mainly CLMV countries Technical cooperation with a focus on capacity-building third country training programmes with 16 countries and 19 international organizations
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Patterns in Triangular Cooperation

• Intergovernmental TDC programmes
• Some examples
• New Rice for Africa (NERICA)
• Asia-Pacific Development Centre on Disability
  (APCD)
• JICA-ASEAN Regional Cooperation Meeting (JARCOM
• ASEAN Institute for Health Development (Mahidol
  University, Thailand
• Rural Development Project in Cambodia
• Africa-Asia SMEs Network Programme
• Thailand-Japan Technical Partnership for Africa
• SSC in the Framework of East Asia Summit (EAS)

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Patterns in Triangular Cooperation contd.

• TDC programmes with multilateral bodies
• Some examples
• South-South Trust Fund at UNDP
• IBSA Fund for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation
• UNESCOs E-9 Initiative for SSC
• Colombo Plan
• Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC
• International Trade Centre, Geneva
• Asia Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology
• World Banks South-South Experience Sharing
  Programme
• NAM Centre for Science and Technology
• UNIDO Centre for South-South Industrial
  Cooperation, New Delhi

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Significance and Impact of TDC and SSC

• Poor base of statistics and guidelines do not
  allow proper appreciation of the significance
• Considerable effort in capacity-building
• Bridging the digital divide a case study of ICT
  sector
• Significant growth since 2003 India, China most
  active
• Bilateral agreements for ICT cooperation,
  e-governance etc.
• Setting up of IT training centres,
  capacity-building programes
• sharing of experiences in computerization,
  e-governance,
• projects such as pan-African e-network

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Concluding Remarks

• SSC and TDC have come of age in Asia-Pacific
• Extensive scale and scope of SSC programmes of
  China, India, Korea, followed by Malaysia,
  Thailand, Singapore
• General focus on capacity-building and sharing
  development experiences and building
  infrastructure and productive capacities
• TDC has also become a sizeable activity with
  pioneering role of Japan and interest of
  multilateral agencies in sharing Asian countries
  development experiences to other regions
• Asian developing countries are also offering debt
  cancellations and market access to LDCs
• ICT sector has been a major focus of attention
  where Asian countries are sharing their capacity
  with co-developing countries
• Full potential of SSC and TDC is far from
  realized
• Exact scale of SSC cannot be determined due to
  poor coordination between different national
  agencies
• Underestimation also due to cost variations and
  underreporting

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Imperative of Enhancing SSC and TDC in
Asia-Pacific in the context of financial crisis

• Promotion of SS Trade and Investments
• Broadening and deepening regional economic
  integration in Asia
• Asian financial cooperation for infrastructure
  development
• ST Cooperation for development
• Mobilizing ICTs for empowering poor
• Exploiting the potential of biotechnologies for
  pro-poor growth
• Cooperation for medicines and public health
• Cooperation for building a development-friendly
  world trading system and global financial system

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Enhancing effectiveness of SSC and TDC

• Action Points for Cooperating Governments
• National coordinating agencies, e.g. KOICA, JICA,
  TICA
• Gather information on all development cooperation
  activities from various agencies and stakeholders
• Action Points for DAC Governments
• Route a growing proportion of development
  assistance through TDC a target of 20-25
• Japan may take a lead in announcing a target for
  promoting SSC
• Support ongoing SSC projects rather than only
  launching new TDC projects

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Enhancing effectiveness of SSC and TDCcontd.

• Action Points for DCF and ESCAP
• DCF should develop guidelines for collection of
  statistics
• Guidelines should be freshly developed rather
  than adopting DAC ones keeping in mind uniqueness
  of SSC
• Develop conversion factors for international
  comparisons
• DCF and regional commissions to set up regional
  bureaus for data collection in different regions
  and provide technical assistance to governments
  in implementing the guidelines
• DCF should develop guidelines for reporting TDC
  by DAC countries
• DCF should compile a directory of best practices

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Enhancing effectiveness of SSC and TDCcontd.

• Action Points for International Agencies
• Give preferences to Southern sources of supply in
  their procurements for development projects in
  the South to promote SSC
• Reserve a certain proportion of procurement from
  Southern suppliers for delivery in other
  developing countries
• Action Points for Programme Countries
• Programme country governments could also
  designate an agency to coordinate with Southern
  partners and to monitor and evaluate the
  cooperation projects and provide feedback
• Assume ownership of cooperation programmes

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Thank you