How can you create successful international economic development programs?

On many occasions the country or the region or a certain bloc may not be fully cognizant of a certain development trajectory. In such instances, the agency or country or countries leading/proposing a given international economic development program have to evangelize the need, benefit and urgency of such a program. Once the potential impact of the proposed intervention is understood by the stakeholders, they come on board with the proposed initiative and then the rest of the actions follow. An example in this context is the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor which was launched at G20 summit in New Delhi in Sept 2023.

I would say the first stage is to consult or do an assessment. I have come to realise that different countries or different region have very unique challenges, hence, solution that works for region A may not work for region B. Also, the peculiarities with each country or society must be considered. After this is done, programs can be tailored to suit the identified problems.

Defining clear goals is key to success to any new economic program. However, the stakeholders need to examine the goals very carefully when an agency or country proposes an economic program. If the stakeholders do not examine the goals carefully and fail to read the fine print, they could be in trouble at a later date. Example: Belt and Road Initiative led by China. Many countries that failed to read the hidde agenda of China, are now finding themselves caught in a debt trap.

The stakeholders and participants of any economic program should continually evaluate the changing conditions surrounding the program. Changing business environment and/or geopolitical situations may warrant the stakeholders to ask for tweaking the program or they may even consider exiting the program. For example, Italy found the BRI to be harmful from their perspective and decided to withdraw from BRI. Instead, Itay decided to join the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor launched in New Delhi in Sept 2023 at the G20 summit.

It is important that the intentions of an economic program should be above board, transparent and honest. If the intent is not good and there are hidden agendas, the program in question would invariably lead to disputes and controversies. Classic example, again, is the BRI. Sometimes the economic program or intervention is not that palatable and the agency intervening with such a program outlines the pains upfront. For example, IMF bail-outs of countries in deep economic mess. Case in point is Pakistan which is struggling to agree to IMF's conditionalities. IMF has already stated its conditions upfront.