Reciprocity: Making Development a Two Way Street

As a follow up of agenda 21, Government of Netherlands took an initiative of forming a four country partnership among Bhutan, Benin, Costa Rica and Netherlands. The idea was to explore what kind of reciprocity can be generated among developed and developing countries having different cultural, religious, social and economic conditions. Accordingly, Bhutan was requested to develop a conceptual paper with suggestions for concrete action in the field of reciprocity. The bilateral agreement emphasised part from reciprocity, a vision of equitable development that was respectual of the environment and a self-imposed conditionality towards fair and just development. This paper has been written at the invitation of Royal Government of Bhutan and Netherlands as well as other countries. In some sense, the paper provides a new perspective to look at north-south relations so that instead of pursuing these in the donor-donee framework, one can identify the respective strengths and pursue reciprocal relationships. Bhutan has preserved some of the unique biodiversity in the world. It has to be seen whether the development agencies would consider their contribution to the economic development of Bhutan as a token price to gain entitlement to benefit from Bhutanese culture, diversity and knowledge system.