According to the explanation of the institutional reform program of the State Council issued on March 13
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2018, at the first session of the 13
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NPC, the main purpose of establishing the new administration of international development and cooperation is: to better serve the national overall diplomatic layout and build “Belt and Road Initiative”, strengthening the strategic plan of foreign aid, promoting the unified management of foreign aid work, reforming and optimizing the way of foreign aid. And the main responsibility of this new department will be responsible for making strategic guidelines, plans and policies on foreign aid; coordinating and making suggestions on major issues related to it; pushing forward reform of the means of aid-giving; making foreign aid plans and overseeing and evaluating their implementation.
Since the establishment of China’s foreign aid policy, it has played an important role of China’s diplomacy. In the early days of the founding of new China, foreign aid policy has played an irreplaceable role in breaking the western trade embargo and diplomatic blockade. After the reform and opening up, foreign aid policy also played a leading role in opening the external market for Chinese companies and products. With the continuous improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength, the strength of China’s foreign aid is also increasing. At present, the scale of foreign aid is at about 2000 million RMB per year. According to the published data, in the future 5 years, Chinese will provide to developing countries with “Six-Hundred ” projects support, to provide 120 thousand training and 150 thousand scholarships to developing countries, to provide $2 million in cash assistance to the World Health Organization etc.
In addition, since 2013 China start the “The Belt and Road” initiative to promote common development and achieve common prosperity and win-win cooperation, at present, more than 100 countries and international organizations have actively supported and participated in this project. This is a century project that can bring new energy and vitality to the world economic development and world peace and will benefit all countries and regions participating in the world. As the proponents and promoters of “The Belt and Road” initiative, in the past four years China had put a lot effort in it. In 2017, Chinese not only built nearly 60 major infrastructure projects in agriculture, industry, transportation, energy, electricity, information communication and other fields, also the implementation of the China Burma (Austin) economic corridor planning, Pakistan city of Gwadar overall planning, planning, marine economic zone of Cape Verde Nepal (Nepal) and Vietnam cross-border cooperation zone planning (South) economic and trade cooperation 5 years planning consulting project.
With the establish of the new administration of international development and cooperation, China have transferred the “foreign aid” to “international development and cooperation”, which embody a broader international perspective and fit for the reality of present international environment.
China needs to improve the efficiency of foreign aid through a more comprehensive and systematic department and needs a higher level of foreign aid organizations and the overall layout of the implementation of China’s diplomacy. And with the development of The Belt and Road” initiative, China needs to better integrate domestic resources, organize and coordinate foreign aid work, participate in global governance, and serve the overall layout of China’s diplomacy. In the past, the work of foreign aid is divided into different departments, such as the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of foreign affairs. Due to the fragmentation of the work, there are some problems and difficulties in the process of organization and implementation the policy or project.
But with the establish of the new administration of international development and cooperation, on the one hand, it will effectively break the decentralization of foreign cooperative development work of the “fragmentation” problem, it can coordinate all forces for foreign aid resources, guide service enterprises to “go out”, and realize the centralized optimization of international development and cooperation, improve efficiency and innovation. On the other hand, it is conducive for China and the world to construct together the future of “The Belt and Road”, and discuss cooperation plan and build cooperation platform, sharing the fruits of cooperation, looking for the solution to the current world and regional economic problems.