12
Mar
The European Union’s (EU) strategic partnerships with Brazil, China, India, Republic of Korea and South Africa all include discussion of development issues, and in some cases commitments to collaborate. This reflects the increasingly prominent role that these emerging powers play in the field of international development and the EU’s recognition of the need for greater engagement with them in this area.
This collection of papers examines these strategic partners’ approaches to development and the scope for dialogue or collaboration with the EU. It appears that these countries share some broad motivations for their growing engagement in international development – from providing Southern solidarity to furthering economic interests, enhancing regional influence or increasing their profile at multilateral level. However, they adopt markedly different strategies to achieve these goals, with differing implications for their willingness to engage with the EU and other traditional donors. While Korea is joining the traditional donor community; South Africa and Brazil are cautiously open to engagement with traditional donors while maintaining a strong Southern identity; and China and India largely reject Western development agendas and avoid association with Western donors. These varied approaches shape both the nature of strategic partners’ development cooperation and the positions they adopt in relation to global development agendas. Such differing approaches require different responses by the EU.
Access and download the full FRIDE report 3 DECEMBER 2014 at: http://fride.org/download/ESPO_EU_strategic_partnerships_and_development.pdf