China

In March 2011, DFID closed its bilateral aid programme to China. Our relationship with China will now identify ways in which both countries can work together as partners on shared global development objectives on global public goods and poverty reduction.

UK-China Global Development Partnership Programme (GDPP)

In line with the China-UK ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, and in order to strengthen further their cooperation, and their common objective to work as ‘Partners for Growth’, the UK and Chinese Governments have agreed to explore practical means by which they can work collaboratively to achieve their common international development objectives to reduce poverty and achieve the MDGs.

To this end, in June 2011, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, and China’s Minister for Commerce, Chen Deming, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The framework for cooperation outlined in the MOU highlights 2 strategic objectives:

1. To work together to achieve shared objectives on ‘global development’, particularly ‘global public goods’, which are of wider benefit to global poverty reduction.

2. To work together for development in other developing countries - where all participants are supportive, and where the development and poverty reduction objectives of the participants coincide.

The MOU also provides for an ‘International Development Dialogue’ to review progress on an annual basis.

Key sectors and programmes

Under the GDPP, DFID and representatives from the Chinese Governments and other key institutions are working together to develop a suite of innovative programmes and dialogues. Components of some of these programmes may include pilots with third countries if and when a third country requests it and consensus is reached between all relevant parties.

The following programmes are under development:

• Agriculture and food security - To accelerate transfer of agricultural technologies and information to developing countries. Combining the best practice in China and UK, the aim is to improve food security through production increase in low-income countries in Africa and Asia, through three areas of work: technology transfer through demonstrations and piloting activities; collaborative research to enhance agricultural innovation in low income countries; and sharing of innovative solutions to food security challenges with policy makers and agricultural practitioners.
• Disaster Risk Reduction - A programme that aims to improve regional cooperation on community based disaster management.
• Global health – To strengthen the effectiveness of China’s and the UK’s contribution to global health policy and outcomes, in line with international evidence based practice. The programme will aim, among other things, to build capacity for DFID and Low Income Countries (LICs) to learn lessons from China’s unparalleled success in decreasing infant, child and maternal mortality rates and from China’s recent health sector reform programme. The capacity built and lessons learned will contribute to the development of pilot partnerships between China and LICs to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes.

Future programmes may include climate change, peacekeeping, sustainable natural resource management, water resources and outward investment and economic growth.