International Cooperation
International Cooperation
South-South Cooperation is a term historically used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the global South.
Below you will find information about mechanisms of regional and intersectorial cooperation around the world.
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The Latin America Integration Association (Aladi) was established by the Montevideo Treaty of August 1980, to give continuity to the process of integration which had started with the Latin America Free Trade Association. This process targets the gradual and progressive implementation of a single Latin American market, focusing on the economic...
The First Latin America and Caribbean Summit occurred on December 2008, in Bahia, Brazil. It approved the Declaration of Salvador, which affirmed the importance of regional integration, cooperation, sustainable development, poverty eradication and the promotion of social justice and democracy. In February 2010, the Second Summit took pla...
Andean Community (Comunidad Andina – or CAN) was created in 1969 and relates not only to trade agreements. It also has a social agenda, as well as an environmental and political cooperation under its framework.
The establishment of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was the result of a 15-year effort to fulfil the hope of regional integration which was born with the establishment of the British West Indies Federation in 1958. The West Indies Federation came to an end in 1962 but its end may be regarded as the beginnin...
Mercosur is a Regional Trade Agreement between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, which affirms principles of economic cooperation towards the better use of available resources. It was created in 1991, through the Treaty of Asunción, the Southern Common Market.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations (besides Chile, Guiana and Suriname), as part of a continuing process of South American integration.
Established on 9 July 2002, the African Union was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity Among the objectives of the AU’s leading institutions are: to accelerate the political and socioeconomic integration of the continent; to promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continen...
The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) was founded in February 1989. It aims to consolidate relations binding the member states and their people, to achieve progress and well-being of their communities, and to defend their rights, as well as the progressive realisation of free movement of persons, services, goods and capital between member states, ...
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) originated with the Lusaka Declaration of Intent and Commitment to the Establishment of a Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa in 1981, the development of the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA), and the Final Act of Lagos (FAL) of the Organisation of African Unit...
The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community (EAC) was signed in Arusha on 30 November 1999. This organisation aims to develop policies and programmes for widening and deepening co-operation among partners in political, economic, social and cultural fields, research and technology, defence, security and legal and judicial ...
The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) originated in the 1966 Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa. It was officially created in 1981, when the leaders of the UDEAC agreed in principle to form a wider economic community of Central African states. It began functioning in 1985, but was inactive for several years be...
The Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) was founded on May 28 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. It aims to promote economic integration in the African Continent, and seeks to promote cooperation and integration, with a view to establishing an economic and monetary union as a mean of strengthening economic grow...
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Eastern Africa was created to supersede the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development . The Revitalised IGAD expanded areas of regional cooperation and a new organisational structure, and was officially launched by the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government on 25...
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) offices were established with the formal adoption of the NEPAD Strategic Framework at the 37th Summit of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) in July 2001, as a programme of the OAU to develop an integrated socioeconomic development framework for Africa. As a socioeconomic programm...
The Southern African Development Community has its origins in the 1980s in the establishment of the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference, SADCC. In 1992, it was reconfigured into a Development Community and officially named SADC. This organisation aims to achieve common future within regional communities to ensure econom...
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Created in 1989, it aims to enhance economic growth and prosperity in the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community. There are three main Pillars in APEC, namely Trade and I...
Established in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian National (ASEAN) aims to speed the economic growth and promote peace and regional stability. ASEAN considers social protection to be a key element in the promotion of human well-being and sustainable economic development (Suharto 2007, 1).
The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme is a partnership of eight countries and six multilateral institutions working to promote development through cooperation, leading to accelerated economic growth and poverty reduction. It acts as a proactive facilitator of practical, results-based regional projects and policy init...
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established on 8 December 1985, and aims to promote the welfare of the people of the region through accelerated economic growth, social progress and cultural development. As poverty alleviation is the overarching goal of all SAARC activities, in 1991 it created the Independe...
The Summit of South American-Arab Countries (ASPA) was created in Brasília in May 2005. It is a mechanism for bi-regional cooperation and a forum for political coordination. It aims to foster the economic and social exchange between member countries.
Created in 1999, the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) is an association of 33 countries from East Asia and Latin America, which aims to stimulate greater interaction and mutual knowledge, to promote political dialogue and enhance cooperation, thereby creating possibilities of joint action in different fields.
The India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) was established on 6 June 2003. According to the Brasília Declaration, priority is given to social inclusion and equality, the promotion of food security, health, social assistance, employment, education, human rights and environmental sustainability. The Brasília Declarati...
The Organiz ation of American States (OAS) was officially established by the Charter of the OAS, in Bogotá, 1948. The OAS was established to achieve among its member states, “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity...
