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Conference name: International Triangular Cooperation Conference (commonly known as the Lisbon Conference)
Date: October 7-8, 2024
Organized jointly by OECD and the Government of Portugal
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Main Participants
More than 180 participants from over 50 governments and implementing agencies (Japan, US, Germany, China, Korea, Portugal, Norway, South Korea, Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Kazakhstan, etc.), international and regional organizations (OECD, UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Development Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Program for Enhancing South-South Cooperation in Ibero-America (PIFCSS)), research institutions (Korea, India), etc.
Contents
Every year in Lisbon, Portugal, the OECD and the Portuguese government hold the International Triangular Cooperation Conference (commonly known as the Lisbon Conference), where governments, implementing agencies, and international and regional organizations exchange views on promoting triangular cooperation1(*).
This year’s event was held on October 7-8, and was attended by a record number of more than 180 participants from over 50 countries, who engaged in lively discussions.
This year’s theme is “Linking Global Process to Create Local Impact.
This is due to the global trend of triangular cooperation being promoted by Brazil, this year’s G20 chair, as well as the fact that field-based cooperation is the most effective way to achieve this. Each year we focus on a different region, and this year the focus was on Asia.
JICA Cooperation and New Development Partners
The plenary session consisted of three sessions: “Global Movements Promoting Triangular Cooperation,” “Cooperation with Asian Partners,” and “Sharing Experiences and Good Practices and Future Initiatives. 15 organizations (from Asia, Africa, and Latin America) including JICA shared their knowledge. JICA introduced the “Community for the Advancement of Rice Development in Africa (CARD2)” (see note) as a concrete example of such cooperation.
What was particularly impressive was the high evaluation of JICA’s bilateral and triangular cooperation achievements by many countries. For example, Chile expressed their appreciation of JICA’s experience in cooperation, including the “Support Project for Establishment of Human Resource Development for Disaster Risk Reduction in Central and South America” (KIZUNA3) (see note), which has spread to Central and South America; Kazakhstan expressed their appreciation of JICA’s bilateral cooperation, including the transfer to Uzbekistan of the “KAIZEN” methodology for improving quality and productivity at manufacturing production sites. Kazakhstan has transferred KAIZEN to Uzbekistan, a method for improving quality and productivity at production sites in the manufacturing industry, which has been accumulated through JICA’s bilateral cooperation.
1 South-South and Triangular Cooperation ｜ About the Project – JICA Triangular cooperation means that developed countries and international organizations support South-South cooperation conducted by developing countries for other developing countries in terms of funds, technology, and management methods.
2 Community for the Advancement of Rice Cultivation in Africa (CARD) ｜ About the project – JICA
3 KIZUNA Project | Initiatives in Each Country – JICA
(Leftmost, Mr. Kato, Deputy Director, International Aid Coordination and Planning Office, Planning Department, JICA, speaks at the plenary session.)
Triangular cooperation results from the field
(Mr. Siddiqi, a local staff member of JICA Malaysia office, made a presentation on the characteristics and contributions of JICA’s triangular cooperation)
Local staff member Siddiqi, who has 22 years of practical experience in managing triangular cooperation projects at JICA’s Malaysia office, also attended the Lisbon meeting this time. He was the main speaker at the session to discuss effective triangular cooperation and introduced the characteristics of JICA’s triangular cooperation, “Ownership-oriented and equal partner relationship” and “Center of Excellence4(*),” based on his rich experience in triangular cooperation, using examples from the field. The former is a partnership between JICA and Malaysia, and the latter is a partnership between JICA and Malaysia. In the former, JICA, the Malaysian government, and triangular cooperation implementing agencies conducted field surveys in African countries (Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, and Eswatini) and followed up to provide practical technical training for local people (SME support, trade promotion, productivity improvement (KAIZEN), science and mathematics teacher training, etc.). The latter case is a case in which a Malaysian agricultural research institute is supporting a Palestinian agricultural government agency. The participants shared their unique experiences in the field, introducing how the Malaysian government agency, which JICA has supported for many years through technical cooperation, has since strengthened and developed its organization and human resources, and transformed itself to support other countries by utilizing its successful experiences and technologies.
4 The partner country or organization that has become a new supporter from the beneficiary side due to its experience in cooperation with JICA is called “Center of Excellence” as a “core organizational entity where knowledge and human resources are gathered”.
Co-creation and solidarity” with new development partners in the future
We are now at a major turning point, as countries that have achieved economic development are shifting from “cooperation recipients” to “cooperation providers,” and “triangular cooperation” is evolving into a wide-area collaboration that links those with the same issues through equal partnerships and a web of cooperation.
In order to deepen equal partnerships with diverse partners and contribute to solving global development issues together, JICA will continue to work on triangular cooperation and “co-creation and solidarity” with new development partners.
© Source JICA
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