ABSTRACT
Each developing country is unique. The donor community is also a heterogeneous group. Development efforts should take advantage of these differences instead of suppressing all development strategies and aid instruments into one. This introductory chapter discusses the importance of strategic and instrumental diversity in development aid, the lessons of East Asian experiences, the main features of Japanese and British aid, and the significance of deepening Japan–United Kingdom partnership in the new era of development cooperation. The principle of diversity and complementarity in donor collaboration can be justified by three overlapping perspectives: comparative advantages of donors; non-fungibility of ideas; and inseparability of content and instruments. Japan is one of the oldest members of the Development Assistance Committee. Japan has been at the forefront of South–South and triangular cooperation, which today attracts strong attention among development actors. There are good opportunities for Japan to add value to the new architecture for development cooperation, where it can play to its distinctive strengths.
