Chapter 5 | Page 188 5.2 INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE AND CO-OPERATION: CURRENT TRENDS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS International assistance and co-operation activities are instrumental in filling domestic gaps in resources and skills that are essential for sustaining public expenditure and investment in developing countries. From an economic point of view, such assistance is useful in filling the foreign exchange gap associated with the shortage of foreign exchange flow, especially in the case of poor trade balances, and the fiscal gaps that arise from reduced or inadequate revenue from taxation and other primary revenue sources. From a human rights perspective, such aid and assistance are crucial for creating the necessary conditions for many in poor countries to enjoy their basic rights. The dynamics of international assistance and co-operation indicate that such activities are strongly interrelated and their positive effects are transmitted to economic and social policy areas. It is recognised that development cooperation serves the purpose of ‘assisting countries in their efforts to make social and economic progress.’3 Numerous references to international assistance and co-operation in soft law instruments suggests a recognition of such co-operation as an important principle with the character of a general principles of international law.4 Therefore, the capacity of the State to deliver social and economic progress is directly related to its ability to protect and promote human rights, particularly ESC rights. The need for the international community to support social development and the realisation of human rights has been recognised in a number of international instruments.5 These argue that mechanisms to increase the net flow of resources to developing States and strengthen economic co-operation 3 Stephan Klingebiel, Development Cooperation: Challenges of the New Aid Architecture (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2014), 2. 4 Michał Gondek, The Reach of Human Rights in a Globalising World: Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties (Intersentia, Antwerp, 2009), 324. 5 For example, United Nations World Summit on Social Development, Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development, A/CONF.166/9, (6-12 March 1995). Many other international provisions related to international assistance and cooperation were covered in Chapter 2 and 3 of this thesis.