International Cooperation for Development: New Actors and New Strategies

The international cooperation for development offered by the countries of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) could benefit from the accumulated experience of a small group of developing countries that offer cooperation programs and activities, particularly in the sphere of technical cooperation, to countries with a lower relative degree of development. The new actors in cooperation for development are countries like Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan and Mexico. Despite their own continued requirement of aid to strengthen their development processes, they offer useful cooperation programs whereby they provide their experience in technical questions (personnel training, equipment transfer and agricultural technology, health, and infrastructure construction among other things) with the aim of reinforcing their connections with countries with whom they share regional interests in peace, security and development, or with which they have strong cultural ties. The complementary nature of experiences between the DAC and this new group of actors in cooperation would result in better use of the resources that are directed to international development cooperation.