Coming Together: How a New Global Partnership on Development Cooperation was Forged at the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

Adapting development cooperation to the new aid ecosystem requires an understanding of how new players and new circumstances are changing aid effectiveness.

Over 2,500 participants came to Busan to discuss new directions in development cooperation. The forum concluded with a broadly endorsed outcome document that emphasised the newly important role of south-south cooperation, the implications of the greater willingness of the private sector to invest in a range of developing countries, new approaches towards fragile and post-conflict states and the formation of a new global partnership for effective development cooperation. Several DAC donors made last-gasp efforts to meet commitments made at Accra, especially on transparency, where the US and Canada joined the common standards developed by the International Aid transparency Initiative. The attendance of major political figures, including President Kagame of Rwanda, Secretary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, OECD Secretary General José Ángel Gurría, Queen Rania and President Lee Myung-bak of Korea, helped shift the discussion from technical considerations of aid effectiveness to political issues with improving development effectiveness.