Taking all these factors into consideration, the UK, with co-hosts, aims to convene a wider set of partners to chart a new course for international cooperation in Spring 2026. This Conference on the Future of International Development will launch a “Compact on International Cooperation”, based on the principles discussed during the Wilton Park Re-imagining Development dialogue. The final session debated these principles, some potential pitfalls and choices.
The starting point Is considering why previous principles of partnership have been difficult to realise in practice. Those principles set out at Paris and Busan remain important: transparency, accountability, ownership, voice and inclusion. Power, money, and dominant national rather than global interest have had a role to play. Maintaining a global social compact has been difficult, when domestic social compacts either do not exist or have broken down. But there was a general sense that these principles work as a first building block.
There was acknowledgement that principles alone do not change behaviour, incentives do. It is important to build positive norms, think about champions and influencers, and make behaviour change easier. To engage citizens and politicians, work through intermediaries, including civil society and the private sector. Consider how development success is communicated positively and aspired to.
The importance of defining the end point and shared purpose before agreeing principles was re-emphasised. This purpose could be, for example, reducing global inequality or phasing out ODA by a target date. Or it could be a specific sectoral objective based around global public goods. This will help partners to be clear about their own roles in cooperation. There will be value differences and conflicts e.g. between commercial benefit and public interest that need to be worked through and these should be surfaced.
Any compact should be able to capture how complex, diverse, dynamic and fast evolving the world of development is. Principles of international cooperation must be geopolitically robust. They will need to be flexible: fragile states may require humanitarian approaches, while middle‑income countries may prioritise commercial or foreign policy interests – though they should be broad enough to work across contexts.
Other factors to consolidate for the draft principles draw from the discussions captured in this report: frame principles around mutual interest, trust and co-creation; set out a clear narrative with new modern language and terminology (including international cooperation, perhaps, rather than international development); keep catalytic impact at the core: unlocking domestic resource mobilisation, strengthening systems, harnessing technology, knowledge and innovation.
Principles should endure, but their relevance depends on how we act differently now. They must be pragmatic, workable, and resonate with multiple stakeholders and their interests.
Draft principles on international cooperation
Based on the discussion, the UK Government has developed the principles below as a first set for testing, to be taken forward over the coming months:
Box 2: Draft principles for international cooperation
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Clear purpose – Partnerships based around a clear framing of desired outcomes.
Mutual interest, respect and trust – Commit to partnerships grounded in mutual interest, respect and trust; co-create priorities; align incentives; make voice, risk and benefit-sharing explicit; and hold all parties mutually accountable.
Streamlined and enforceable accountability – Commit to a single, country-led accountability framework with a common results system, proportionate risk-based assurance, transparent mutual assessments, and agreed remedies for noncompliance.
Use country systems by default – Use and strengthen in-country systems, formal and informal; integrate any additional measures with clear exit criteria.
Power to those most affected – People-first governance: decisions, budgets and oversight led by those most affected, consent for major changes, enforceable redress, and measures to mitigate the risk of power and influence captured by influential groups.
Predictable and transparent finance – Predictable, multiyear, on budget, citizen-visible finance with clear disbursement schedules and real-time transparency.
Catalytic use of finance – Deploy concessional finance where it unlocks the greatest impact; crowd in other capital; recognise distinct roles of ODA, DFIs, philanthropy, private and South–South flows.
Knowledge, data, and technology as Global Goods – Invest in data and knowledge systems; support networks and South–South/multi partner exchange; co-develop technology that reduces, not deepens, inequality.
Shared risk and resilience – Share risks equitably and in proportion to capacity; build adaptive, preventive systems with pre-agreed triggers for course correction.This is example content