The Conference “reaffirmed the important role of technical cooperation among developing countries as an instrument for the promotion and implementation of economic cooperation among developing countries,” (G77 website) and arose as an effort to become more technically and financially self-reliant.The aims of the UN Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) were to increase the consciousness in each country of its own experience, assets, and skills in the technical area as it affects development; likewise, to raise awareness of the above resources in other developing countries; to strengthen the institutional ties and arrangements that allow countries to individually and jointly take maximum advantage of such assets; to pinpoint specific opportunities for the developing nations in areas of technical cooperation; and to establish the instruments to arrive at the most pragmatic and geopolitically feasible cooperation. 

Many observers at the conference agreed however, that these objectives – like technical cooperation itself – may only be the tip of the iceberg. In essence, TCDC stands for an effort to restructure the entire development strategy from the perspective of the developing countries themselves. It mirrors the overwhelming priority of the ‘South’ (developing countries) to achieve national and collective self-reliance in an otherwise interdependent world -without cutting any of its valuable ties with the ‘North’ (industrialized countries). (van Dam 1979: 8)

The conference highlighted the enormous diversity of different countries’ needs and phases of development. It highlighted the issue of complementary technological development for competitiveness in world markets with the need for maintaining or increasing employment opportunities. Furthermore, “while some conference delegates stressed the financial aspects of technical cooperation, others invoked the overwhelming need for appropriate (or intermediate, or soft) technology. Some urged the South to act as the engine of growth for the world economy, others preferred that technical cooperation be designed to develop the Third World’s own most precious assets: its people. For no matter how important blueprints and licensing agreements maybe in the transfer of technology, in the final analysis success hinges upon the ‘carrying capacity’ of people.” (van Dam, 1979:9)

The conference highlighted three challenges of technical cooperation. “First, to acknowledge that technical cooperation is a forerunner of a new global division of industrialization. Second, in the choice of techniques, the development of human resources must play a major role. Finally, technical cooperation hinges on a widening of horizons: some attitudinal and legal barriers to the transfer of technology may prove more serious than lack of funds or knowledge.” (van Dam, 1979:9)

 

Sources:

G77 website http://www.g77.org/doc/CPA-TCDC.htm

Van Dam, A. (1979) ‘South helping South’ http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/Archive/ReportsINTRA/pdfs/v7n4e/109618.pdf