No-one can be forced to cooperate! It takes persuasion by showing the advantages of cooperation, going beyond the good conscience, one might have for contributing to a “good cause”. That is a major lesson I have learned from twelve years of work in the field in cross-border cooperation. A principle that also proved its worth during the next five years, when I was in charge of the Rhineland-Palatinate Development Agency and a consensus had to be established between public - and private -sector partners on investment projects: impossible to force anyone to invest. The cross-border cooperation school of diplomacy proved very useful in that context.
Fully understanding the point of view of another, identifying the real needs of the members of an association or determining the shared interests of varied partners in a project necessitates an ability to project one’s self into the other’s perspective, which requires an open mind. This means much more than a willingness to enter a partnership or an ability to dialogue with others. It is also a condition for implementing joint solutions. For it is only if the cooperation does not produce any losers and if it generates advantages for all that it will last.
Furthermore, a good balance should be found between the relations of trust between partners and the need for transparency, between institutionalized cooperation and the practical work carried out together, or between the need to develop specific skills and the capacity to combine forces in order to work together. It is in this spirit that I invite you to move forward together, with MOT, on the path of cross-border cooperation, a prospect which gladdens me personally.
Source: Cross-border news, No. 51, June 2009
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