ANKARA - A project to strengthen Turkey`s participation in international development cooperation was introduced on Wednesday.
Turkish State Minister Said Yazicioglu, UNDP Turkey Representative Mahmud Eyub and Turkish Development and Cooperation Agency (TIKA) chairman Musa Kulaklikaya introduced the project: "Bridging South-South Cooperation and Emerging Donor Roles: Strengthen Turkey`s Participation in International Development Cooperation".
The project aims at strengthening Turkey`s national capacity as a country which starts to grant aid.
"Besides receiving development assistance, at the same time Turkey is in a unique position of delivering development assistance as well. Recently, Turkey has moved its position from a recipient country to a net donor country," Kulaklikaya said.
Kulaklikaya noted that, "the increased challenges that developing countries face today particularly, towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, dictate a new and more vigorous agenda for South-South Cooperation. South-South Cooperation, including technical and economic cooperation, has increasingly proven to be an effective approach in strengthening partnership and collective self-reliance among developing countries."
He said, "with the implementation of this project, Turkey`s contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries will be strengthened through the sharing of its experience and "best practices" as an emerging donor.
UNDP Representative Eyup said, "the South-South Cooperation has been getting increasingly important ever since its early inception in 1978. The awareness and activities related to the `technical cooperation among developing countries` has been in Turkey`s agenda for international cooperation, initially as a recipient, and subsequently, as a donor country."
He said, "the overall objective of the UNDP/TIKA South-South Cooperation Project is to strengthen the Capacities of the Government of Turkey as an emerging donor, in order to increase the effectiveness of Turkish Official Development Assistance in line with the `Paris Declaration Principles" of ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing for result and mutual accountability."
(AY-AÖ)
(DIP)