Chapter 3 Latin America and the Caribbean as a New Partner in International Development Cooperation for China

Abstract

The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region has been seen as a great recipient of international cooperation and foreign aid.Likewise,in recent years,LAC has positioned itself as an experienced provider of South-South Cooperation (SSC) in diverse development fields.Moreover,China has played an important role as a political and economic actor in LAC,investing a significant amount of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the region and is seen as a key commercial partner.However,the international cooperation field has not been prominent and continues to be little explored,nor it is in terms of Official Development Assistance (ODA).That is why we argue that new relationships should be established between LAC and China,to promote and foster economic and social development for both regions.We find that beyond economic ties,China and LAC share similar issues,such as inequality,environmental degradation and poverty.That is why we suggest new cooperation opportunities should set up by strengthening tools as Triangular Cooperation (TrC) and SSC.We also suggest this new cooperation relationship should establish a multi-stakeholder network including public,private and social actors,even other donors,and try to avoid the traditional donor-recipient relationship.

About the authors

Juana García Duque is Visiting Scholar at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University and Asso-ciate Professor at the Business School from Universidad de los Andes,Colombia.Her research fields around international develop-ment include(i) the role of international cooperation and private sector in peacebuilding process and the study of (ii) interna-tionalization and emerging economies.She is member of the Acad-emic Committee of the Master's degree in Peacebuilding and coordinates several of the projects of the University regarding peace,such as the Research for peace Portfolio.She has also been working in new blended courses and MOOCs in Emerging Markets,exploring new education methodologies.

Juan Pablo Casadiego Guevara holds a BA in Management from Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. He is on track for a Master's in research in Management Sciences at ESADE Business School where he next aims to pursue a PhD. He has worked as research assistant in different institutions of the same university, including the Center for Economic Development Studies (CEDE), the School of Management and the Sustainable Development Goals Research Center for Latin America and the Caribbean. Juan Pablo has also been a research assistant at the Emerging Markets Institute of Cornell University during the summer 2018. His research interests revolve around; (i) Sustainable Management, (ii) Emerging Markets, (iii) Regenerative Enterprises and (iv) Peacebuilding.

Introduction

China is an exemplary Asian country that,thanks to political and economic reforms,today can show the world that not only it is able to prosper economically,but it also has the capacity to work with the international community in order to cooperate towards the success of other developing countries.It is not surprising that China,with an economic growth rate of 10% of its annual GDP from 1978 to 2010,has managed to reduce poverty levels from 80% to 10%; that it is the second largest economy and the largest single contributor to the world growth since the 2008 financial crisis (World Bank,2019); and today,it is one of the greatest donors of international coopera-tion,despite the fact that,traditionally,it has been a recipient of development aid.However,China is not considered a great donor to all the LAC countries,as only few are beneficiaries in very specific development fields.

A new panorama regarding international cooperation and assis-tance for development is expected to take place in LAC because some traditional donors announced reductions and even cuts in the disbursement budget for the region.For example,as of May 2019,the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland-SECO proposed a new strategic cooperation plan that contains several reforms.The Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) will reduce the number of countries it currently assists from 46 to 34,and five of the countries that will no longer receive aid being part of LAC^[1] (SECO,2019).Switzerland proposes a new logic of cooperation,aimed at addressing migration,peace and poverty,under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Ferrari,2019).This should be seen as an opportunity for China's integration in the region,beyond the trade and traditional investment (FDI) ties,which are highly concentrated in a few countries and sectors.