draining development.pdf - Khazar University

1Introduction and Overview:The Dynamics of Illicit FlowsPeter ReuterAbstractA remarkable consensus emerged during the first decade of the 21st centuryon the need for the wealthy countries of the world to increase theiraid sharply to developed states. At Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002, theworld’s leaders committed to a “substantial increase in official developmentassistance [to help] developing countries achieve internationallyagreed development goals and objectives” (United Nations 2003, 14).Three years later, at Gleneagles, United Kingdom, the heads of the G-8nations reaffirmed this commitment, and in Doha, Qatar, in 2008, thenations of the world again recognized the need to increase developmentaid and pledged to do so. However, although development assistancesteadily increased over the decade, rising from US$58 billion in 2000 toa projected US$125 billion in 2010, it still falls far short of what thedeveloped world promised, and what many believe poor countries needif their citizens are to escape poverty.As it became clear over the decade that the wealthy world’s commitmentswould not match the rhetoric, the development community begansearching for other sources of funding to fill the development finance gap.At the same time, reports of massive, illegal outflows from developing1