In 2004, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development presented a concept outlining the future cooperation with emerging economies (Ankerlandkonzept) as a response to their growing political and economic importance. Development cooperation with these countries should act as a bridging function that has the ability to stimulate innovative debates and expand on promising topics for future cooperation. The goal of the report was to discuss the current types of policy dialogues existing at bilateral and global levels, as well as ways in which these dialogues can be more effectively designed, clustered, and improved for emerging economy countries.
The appraisal of dialogue formats served as a prime example for the areas of legal dialogue, energy policy and global governance. The dialogue formats were, among other things, assessed in terms their complexity, mandate, duration, scope, jurisdiction, linking capacity, financing and operation. The distinction was made between cross-sectoral policy dialogues and dialogues for specialized subjects. In addition, the question of the policy advisory skills and problem-oriented approach was investigated.