La Dinámica de la Cooperación Triangular: Hacia la Construcción de Nueva Asociación entre México y Corea del Sur

Abstract

This article aims to outline the importance of international cooperation –specifically triangular cooperation– as this new cooperative form has been gaining popularity in the last few years. Triangular cooperation endeavors to improve aid programs’ effectiveness and provide a new method for cooperation among traditional actors. We develop programs and projects for International Cooperation for Development and for Official Development Assistance. We describe how these can be used as tools to facilitate growth in developing countries and how donors and receptors can carry out programs and projects in a triangular method that produce mutual benefits. In this paper, we explore how a net donor country provides technical or financial resources to a relatively less developed country, typically a middle-income country. This latter country then acts as a mediator or bridge to conduct programs, projects, or actions in another receptor country. This scenario is known as triangular cooperation, and in order to identify its advantage and disadvantages, we analyze the performance of South Korea as a donor country and Mexico as a mediator or bridge country. In the field of international cooperation, both Mexico and South Korea perform highly and complementarily, and if they work together in a triangular cooperation form, both can play a better and more meaningful role in international scenarios. Both countries can deploy actions –under the principle of co-responsibility– in different fields,sharing experiences related to issues in small and medium enterprises,rehabilitation and administration of water resources, and disaster relief. All these topics and others can be benefited in third countries that are mainly located in Central America and the Caribbean region. This region is an important area as well: for Mexico, it contains historic and traditional partnerships, and for Korea, the region represents a new area where Korea can find allies for its international plans and also fortify the relationships that it already has. Finally, we suggest that Mexico in the international cooperation field will be a net receptor country and an emerging donor with substantial experience in triangular cooperation.