The Mexican Law of International Cooperation (LCID) was published on April 6, 2011, in Mexico's Official Journal. The LCID provides the Mexican government with the necessary legal instrument for the formulation and assessment of international development cooperation programs with foreign governments and international organizations. The entry into force of the LCID marked the beginning of the creation process of a concrete system for the implementation of international development cooperation and the establishment of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) as a decentralized body of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
To analyze the opportunities and challenges presented by the LCID, AMEXCID interviewed prominent foreign specialists on international cooperation: Dr. Ulrich Müller, Senior Policy Advisor in the Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean Department of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ); Dr. Juan Pablo Prado, Professor and Researcher at the Autonomous University of Puebla; Dr. Gabriela Sánchez, Professor and Researcher at Instituto Mora, and Dr. Philipp Schönrock, Director of the Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional (Cepei) in Colombia.
1.- What is the importance of legislations such as the Mexican Law of International Development Cooperation (LCID)?
Ulrich Müller: To me the Mexican LCID is a very important step forward, because it provides the legal basis for Mexico's international cooperation, both as a receiver and a provider of cooperation. Several countries undergoing the same transition have not yet taken that step. In that regard, I think the international community is paying attention to countries that already have such a legal basis, and therefore I would like to congratulate Mexico.
Juan Pablo Prado: The LCID provides a renewed political, legal and institutional weight to Mexico's international development cooperation, and aims at being the reliable and consolidated regulatory effort for the structural and organizational reconfiguration of Mexican cooperation as a relevant instrument of Mexico's foreign policy.
Gabriela Sánchez: The LCID is a new starting point for building a new state policy in the field of international development cooperation and for its positioning as a matter of public interest. The LCID will lay the foundations for Mexico's transition from a rather reactive position to received requests and offers of cooperation to more proactive interventions with focus, objectives, priorities and goals that contribute to general development practices and models increasingly tailored to the needs of Mexico and other countries.
Philipp Schönrock: It is most important that active development cooperation stakeholders in Mexico - at all levels - enrich with their constructive contributions Mexico's development agenda. The LCID is a platform that is driving this process, and I believe it is fundamental to understand that this legal framework goes beyond a technical function.
2.- Which other countries have a law similar to the LCID?
Ulrich: The majority of countries do not have a law on international cooperation. Europe has one law of this nature, but it does not cover as many aspects and it refers to the concepts of development in a more restrictive manner.
Juan Pablo: The United States adopted its Foreign Aid Act in 1962. The International Development Act of 2002 is the most recent exercise in United Kingdom in the regulation of its international assistance. Spain adopted its legislation on international development in 1998, while the vast majority of its autonomous communities (with the exception of Murcia) have done the same. Japan's ODA Charter entered into force in 2003. Various Latin American countries have adopted decrees on the creation of heir own international cooperation agencies, the most recent initiatives were taken in Uruguay and Colombia.
Gabriela: Since 1991 in Latin America, in Peru, there is the Law on International Technical Cooperation, and in a complementary manner the law of 2002 establishing the Peruvian International Cooperation Agency. Another example is Chile with its 1990 Law on the International Cooperation Agency of Chile. Another necessary reference is the 1998 Spanish Law of International Development Cooperation.
Philipp: I do not know another country in the region with a similar national legislation. The recent creation of international cooperation agencies in Uruguay and Colombia displays similarities, however, they do not have a legal framework as broad as Mexico's. In the particular case of Colombia, there is a National System of International Cooperation and presidential directives aimed to increase the efficiency and inter-agency coordination in the field of development cooperation. At the national level there is the public cooperation policy approved last year in Medellin by the city council.
3.- What do you think of the following expression: "The Mexican Law on International Development Cooperation is an example internationally"?
Ulrich: We can say that in some way the LCID is a model. Not in the sense that other countries should do exactly the same, but rather in the sense that Mexico is the first country going in a certain direction and surely others will follow and take Mexico as a reference. However, I think the LCID is an international example and shows that Mexico has taken a big step in an important process.
Juan Pablo: The LCID can be perceived as an international example in the sense of contributing, through the strengthening of Mexican policy of international cooperation, to the efforts of several global stakeholders to promote a system of international development cooperation that is more structured, cohesive and, therefore, prone to advance development. From my perspective, the best example for other countries would be that Mexican authorities implement in time and manner the full content of the LCID.
Gabriela: The LCID will be an example at the international level only if its application shows the expected results. Above all, its real contribution to the promotion of sustainable human development; to the eradication of poverty, inequality, and social exclusion; the reduction of asymmetries between countries; the protection of the environment; the strengthening of the rule of law; and progress in gender equality. All these aspects are essential. The LCID, by itself, is not enough.
Philipp: I agree that the LCID is an example at the international level. However, we must still be careful to call it a"good practice" because its successful implementation is facing a long journey ahead. Although progress has been made, since the LCID is not only necessary but a basic component to generate greater impacts for the cooperation received and offered by Mexico, there is still a long way ahead.
4.- Is it convenient for Mexico to have the LCID, and why?
Juan Pablo: Yes, because the application of this legislation will engender a more rigorous exercise of the governance of Mexican international cooperation; with the hope that it will contribute to a greater predictability to the national development of Mexican foreign policy, and to the new architecture of international development cooperation. The real challenge is that, indeed, the Mexican government meets each and every one of the LCID's provisions.
Gabriela: Yes, because although various units of the federal public administration and of some Mexican states already have extensive experience in international cooperation, as providers and as receivers, these initiatives have so far been sparse, disjointed, and little known. Mexico requires to capitalize on this extensive experience to enhance it. It is therefore essential to systematize practices, assess implemented initiatives to learn from them and inform the public, account for those initiatives to the various stakeholders involved, and generate knowledge about the most effective solutions for development, both in Mexico and in other countries.
Philipp: This legal framework is very important. The LCID requires taking into account the political dimension, to recognize the role that every development stakeholder must fill; the technical dimension, to have clear definitions of the scope and possibilities of the LCID in a middle-income country such as Mexico; the cultural dimension, to take into account the implications on implementing the national cooperation agenda in a context of cultural diversity like the Mexican one; the institutional dimension, to explicitly define the approaches with international donors, various government entities (national and subnational), the parliament and civil society organizations; the financial dimension, to make sure the law includes the costs of processes in order to enable national and sub-national stakeholders to develop more effective programs.
5.- What are the strengths of the LCID?
Ulrich: It seems to me very interesting that the LCID gathers economic, education and cultural cooperation in what is narrowly defined as cooperation. Several countries also have their own system of cooperation since a long time ago, but not in the same form, which reduces opportunities for innovation.
Juan Pablo: Without a doubt, the most significant contribution will be the impulse given to the institutions and governance of the Mexican cooperation, through the establishment of the basic legal scaffolding necessary to increase the coordination of the various cooperation stakeholders through the AMEXCID.
Gabriela: One of the main virtues of the LCID is that it can lead to the articulation of a system of international cooperation with its various instruments: the legal framework in itself, the administrative, the programmatic, the informative and the financial. The LCID in not a law that restricts itself to the creation of a cooperation agency, to the contrary, the LCID points toward the coherent articulation of a complex system. Another fundamental good point is the emphasis on transparency and accountability for international development interventions.
6.- What are the shortcoming of the LCID?
Ulrich: The LCID will need some changes, because there are stakeholders who are not covered. The law is also very specific on issues which should be covered by cooperation. However, new issues may need to be addressed soon, which could lead to the need to amend the LCID in order to avoid having some legal issues and others extra-legal. Perhaps in the future there will be a discussion about the logic to include every sector of cooperation into the law or if it would be easier to handle them at another level.
Juan Pablo: The LCID did not consider the full complexity of the task ahead within the deadlines specified in the law, the creation and the start-up of the Mexican international development program, the budget, the national registry and its respective information system. Similarly, the inclusion of the social sector, through the participation of civil society organizations and the academia, is still pending. Both stakeholders should coordinate, to establish for themselves mechanisms of democratic representation in the Advisory Council of the AMEXCID.
Gabriela: One of the most important omissions of the LCID is to have removed its initial character of "general law/ ley general" and therefore not to have explicitly recognized the role of state governments, the legislature, and of the social and private sectors as stakeholders in international development cooperation. I believe that the Advisory Board of the AMEXCID should formally reflect the full diversity of stakeholders so the agency could really benefit from initiatives and proposals coming from diversified sources independent of the federal public administration. Although the current administration has already generated several linking strategies with the various stakeholders, and despite the existence of technical committees, it would have been desirable to formalize their participation in the law itself.
Philipp: Much remains to be done in areas such as unification and consistency of methodologies and concepts of cooperation throughout the territory; integration and articulation of the cooperation teams at all levels of government; generation and management of information, as well as follow up and monitoring; coordination among stakeholders, levels of government and civil society organizations; understanding of the way in which are articulated programs and projects with different agendas (stakeholders, distinct governments levels, civil society organizations); more information on international cooperation, coming from non official sources; systematization and dissemination of trainings (best practices at all levels) after evaluations.