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DAC global relations

Mexico's Development Co-operation

 

In 2016, Mexico published figures on its development co-operation programme for 2014 (Government of Mexico, 2016); these are the most recent consolidated figures available on Mexico’s development co-operation.[i]. According to these figures, Mexico’s international development co-operation reached USD 288 million in 2014, down from USD 396 million in 2013 (Government of Mexico, 2016). Out of the total disbursed in 2014, the OECD estimates that at least USD 169 million would count as development co-operation in DAC statistics. Mexico channelled 63% of the USD 168 million throughmultilateral organisations in 2014 (OECD estimates based on Government of Mexico, 2016; and websites ofmultilateral organisations). More recent estimates by the OECD suggest that Mexico channelled USD 86 million through multilateral organisations in 2015.

The Law on International Co-operation for Development (2011) mandated the government to set up the International Development Co-operation Program and the Mexican Agency of International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), as well as the tools necessary to programme, co-ordinate, implement, monitor, report and evaluate development co-operation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has overall responsibility for Mexico’s development co-operation, which is co-ordinated by AMEXCID and implemented through public institutions.

Mexico’s priority partner countries are those in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a special focus on Central America. The priority sectors for its bilateral development co-operation are public administration, agriculture, environmental protection, statistics, education, science and technology, and health. Mexico’s bilateral development co-operation is provided mainly through technical and scientific co-operation provided by civil servants who are experts in the topic. The main mechanism for regional co-operation is the Mesoamerican Integration and Development Project that covers initiatives in public health, environmental sustainability, risk management, food security, trade facilitation, transport, energy and telecommunications. Based on the experience in Mesoamerica, Mexico has also launched other regional initiatives in the Caribbean and the Northern Triangle, for example in immigration. Mexico also financed infrastructure development in the region through the “Yucatán Fund”.

Mexico is engaged in triangular co-operation, partnering with Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members (e.g. Germany, Japan and Spain), Chile and several international organisations (e.g. the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF], the United Nations Development Programme and theWorld Trade Organization) to support other developing countries, mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mexico is also developing co-operation mechanisms with other partners, such as civil society, the private sector and foundations.

Mexico’s development co-operation through multilateral organisations in 2015 was primarily channelled through the United Nations (60%) and the Inter-American Development Bank (30%).

Mexico, which joined the OECD in 1994, is an observer to the DAC.

 

 



[i].  Since the approval of the Mexican Law on International Development Cooperation in 2011, Mexico has started collecting data on an annual basis on development co-operation activities by federal institutions. In 2014, the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation launched the National Registry of International Development Cooperation and improved the methodological work to define its own directives for quantifying its development co-operation..