Brussels Development Briefing 'Emerging donors and rising powers in agriculture' (meeting report)

The Brussels Briefing on 'Emerging donors and rising powers in agriculture in ACP countries' took place on Tuesday 27 October 2015 at the ACP Secretariat, Brussels. A background note, video of the proceedings and a short report are also available.

The Briefing discussed the key challenges and new opportunities to enhance South-South and triangular cooperation. Triangular cooperation has been defined in the OECD report Triangular cooperation: what can we learn from a survey of actors involved? as

... triangular co-operation usually involves at least one provider of development co-operation or an international organisation and one provider and recipients of development co-operation (for instance, providers of South-South co-operation, SSC) to promote a sharing of knowledge and experience or implement development co-operation projects in developing countries.

The Briefing reviewed reviewed the key challenges and opportunities in South-South cooperation in agriculture and the lessons learned from research and practice. It looked at examples of successes in South-South and triangular partnerships across the ACP.

Trade between Africa and non-African developing countries grew from USD 283 billion in 2008, to USD 595 billion a year by 2012 and developing countries’ exports to Africa have increased in the last 15 years from 26 to 43 per cent, while their imports from Africa have grown from 33 to 50 per cent.   This year’s African Economic Outlook considers Africa’s surge in relations with emerging partners, who now sit at the top tables of economic decision-making alongside traditional partners from Europe and North America.