The Bellagio Workshop, co-hosted by National School of Development of Peking University and Schwarzman Scholars of Tsinghua University was held at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy from 7th to 9th May, 2019. Representatives from several think tanks and universities of China, the US, Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and also from organizations such as the UN, the World Bank, and Red Cross gathered together for the theme of “A Dialogue toward a New Global Aid Regime”
With changing international economic dynamics and a gradual restructuring of global collaboration over recent decades, the global aid regime has undergone a significant shift—one in which goals, players, and instruments are all evolving. While the traditional donors consisting of OECD’s Development Assistance Committee have been tightening their foreign aid spending since the global financial crisis, emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil, and numerous private foundations and philanthropists have become much more important investors and trading partners for countries affected by fragility, violence, and conflict. These changes raise many new questions ranging from the global aid regime to the broader concerns of global sustainable development in the future. So the main purpose of our conference is to bring scholars, decision-makers from both donors and recipient states, civil activists, NGO representatives, staff members from international organizations, and journalists together to address the questions brought about by the changing structure of the global aid system. The primary focus of the Workshop will be on, but not be limited to, China’s foreign aid to Asian and African countries. The ultimate goal is to bring stakeholders from different countries and different disciplines to analyze the current situation of global aid, to advocate reforms, and finally to promote action.
With the efforts of Prof. YAO Yang from the National School of Development of Peking University and Prof. XUE Lan from the Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University, this Workshop was fully sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, also came and spoke at the Workshop.
Participants from the National School of Development of Peking University are Pro. LIN Yifu (Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor, Dean of National School of Development at Peking University, Director of China Center for Economic Research at Peking University, Cheung-Kong Scholar, Executive Dean of Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development at Peking University), Prof. YAO Yang (Peking University Boya Distinguished Professor, Dean of National School of Development at Peking University, Director of China Center for Economic Research at Peking University, Cheung-Kong Scholar, Executive Dean of Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development at Peking University), Prof. ZHANG Xiaobo (National School of Development at Peking University Chair Professor, Director of Peking University Center for Enterprise Research), and Dr. WANG Jinjie (Teaching Lecturer, National School of Development at Peking University, Director of the Research Office, South-South Institute of Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) in Peking University).
Other participants include: Prof. XUE Lan (Cheung Kong Chair Distinguished Professor and Dean of Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University), Prof. N'dri Assie-Lumumba (Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University), Prof. HUANG Meibo (International Development Cooperation Academy, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics), Dr. Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez (Senior Director for the World Bank Group’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice), Dr. GU Jing (Director of Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development, UK), Prof. Ashok Gurung （senior director of the India China Institute (ICI), USA）, Deepali Khanna (Managing Director, Asia, The Rockefeller Foundation), Scott Morris (senior fellow, Center for Global Development), Partha Mukhopadhyay (Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, India), Deepak Nayyar (Emeritus Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Inida), Ladislaus Semali (Professor of Education, Mwenge Catholic University and the Penn State University), James Shikwati (Founder and Director of Inter Region Economic Network, Kenya), Dr Hugo Slim (Head of Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross), Xiaojun Grace Wang (Deputy Director at the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation), Dr. Wei Liu (Associate Professor of School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China).
During this three-day workshop, each participant gave a keynote speech, and each speech was followed by a Q&A and discussion session. Prof. YAO Yang and Prof. XUE Lan, as representatives from the organizers, gave welcome speeches at the beginning of the workshop.
Prof. Justin Yifu Lin’s speech was on ‘Going Beyond Aid and Concessional Loan’, in which he discussed the poor development results of the conventional development aid/ concessional borrowing, talked about the theory of new structural economics and proposed new sources for financing development opportunities for structural transformation from South-South development cooperation.
Prof. Justin Yifu Lin
Prof. YAO Yang gave a talk on ‘A Case for South-South Development Aid’, in which he analyzed the rationales for South-South aid and introduced to the audience the founding of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development as a new approach to development aid in China.
Prof. ZHANG Xiaobo’s talk discussed the potential of cluster-based development in Africa.
The topics of other speakers ranged from a new regime of global aid, shifting international aid landscape, emerging economies and the changing dynamics of development cooperation, the multilateralism in development, to philanthropy, etc.
At the end of the workshop, Prof. YAO Yang made a closing speech, and Dr. Rajiv Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, also gave a speech to the participants.
Dr. Rajiv Shah and Prof. YAO Yang
