During the fourth session of the first annual meeting of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress on March 13th, it was announced that a new state-level International Development Cooperation Agency (IDCA) will be set up to integrate the responsibilities of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign affairs concerning foreign aid.
State councillor Wang Yong, entrusted by the State Council, stated that the IDCA will be targeted at giving full play to the role of foreign aid as a major instrument of Chinese diplomacy. A unified management of foreign aid work will also be promoted, and foreign assistance will be optimized in order to better serve the overall needs of China’s diplomacy and the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The major responsibilities of the IDCA will specifically be to draw up strategic guidelines, plans and policies for foreign aid, coordinate major issues within foreign aid and make suggestions, promote the reform of the approach to foreign aid, compile foreign aid programs and plans, determine the foreign aid programs and monitor their implementation.
