Debate Society hosted Chris Chalmers, head of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), on the Thursday afternoon of December 12. As the second roundtable of the semester, students from SPPM, as well as the International Relations Department, were delighted to join Mr. Chalmers in gaining a glimpse into the future of international aid after the UN Millennium Development Goals come to a close in 2015. Mr. Chalmers explained that official development aid (ODA) is in fact only a small portion of the financial aid assistance that flows from country to country and that other capital, such as personal remittances, are often overlooked and therefore, often underestimated as posing a problem to aid packages directed towards emerging economies. While conclusions regarding international aid after 2015 are incubating in their formative stages, DFID remains committed to working closely with the Chinese government on providing assistance to developing countries and will continue to do so hopefully under even closer diplomatic relations between the two countries.

By Alice Xia, SPPM