Presentation

Triangular Cooperation has had a remarkable dynamism in the Ibero-American region over the last 15 years, as the more than 1,300 initiatives of this cooperation modality registered by the IberoAmerican General Secretariat (SEGIB by its Spanish acronym) during this period reveal.

This type of innovative cooperation has focused on a wide range of areas, including initiatives related to health, technological development, environment and institutional strengthening of tax systems, to name a few. Others have addressed structural topics, from the support to integrated social policy systems to very specific interventions —such as the care of endangered animals— and it is precisely in environmental issues that Triangular Cooperation displays its great potential.

The development of this cooperation is only possible as a result of countries’ technical capacities and their political will to implement these initiatives, which aim is to improve the living conditions of all people in our region.

Accordingly, it is a great responsibility and an honor for SEGIB to be able to contribute to the systematization and generation of knowledge on this cooperation modality in order to substantially contribute to improve its quality and, thus, to strengthen its impact on the development of our region.

Based on this accumulated knowledge, on its recognized institutional prestige and its capacity for political dialogue on the subject, SEGIB has promoted a working partnership with the European Commission (EC) to generate greater knowledge and evidence on Triangular Cooperation’s characteristics and its potential as an innovative instrument for the collaboration between countries and regions to achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda. This publication, An Innovative Triangular Cooperation for a New Development Agenda, summarizes the main conclusions of the project that was jointly executed, for over two years, by SEGIB and the EC, which produced five specific studies and various analyses and exchanges.

The document reviews different issues that are essential to strengthen Triangular Cooperation, such as its potential contribution to the challenges of global governance; its role to advance the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs; the multiplicity of stakeholders as well as the diversity of modalities and instruments it involves; its specific capacity to address vulnerable populations or decentralized cooperation; and the complexity of combining information and evaluation systems, among others.

Research studies carried out in this framework share a common element in their conclusions: Triangular Cooperation must reinforce its transformative capacity in the face of development challenges, based on horizontal relations, and by overcoming the traditional bipolar North-South approach that differentiates donors from recipients. For more than four decades, the Ibero-American region has been characterized by the development of a thriving South-South Cooperation that has significantly contributed to generate better development capacities, becoming an international benchmark. This rich experience of thousands of South-South Cooperation projects has laid the technical and institutional foundations for innovative cooperation mechanisms, including Triangular Cooperation, which is nowadays dynamically gaining importance.

We are convinced Triangular Cooperation is a powerful instrument capable of making a substantial contribution to strengthen the relationship between Latin-America and the European Union. Its capacity goes beyond the scope of development cooperation, to also consolidate a strategic partnership that results in great benefits for both regions.

SEGIB’s Secretariat for Ibero-American Cooperation is committed to follow this transformative path.

Ambassador Lorena Larios Secretary for Ibero-American Cooperation SEGIB