The idea of issuing a Nordic journal of international development co-operation was first proposed by the Head of the Information Service of the Danish International Development Agency, Mr Jörgen Milwertz.
A major reason for the proposal of issuing a journal of this type in English was the fact that little information about the thinking behind the Nordic aid programmes was available to those who were not conversant with the Nordic languages. It was also felt that too much of the discussion on international development in the Nordic countries had been carried out in a kind of seclusion and that the time had come to open the windows and subject these views to comments and criticism from the developing countries. This would promote a meaningful dialogue with the recipients of our aid contributions. It was also felt that it was equally important that representatives of the developing countries should be given an opportunity to state the aims and priorities of their own development programmes in the journal, thereby influencing thinking in the Nordic countries on these matters.
Thus it was only natural that the title of the new journal should be Development Dialogue and that it should be addressed primarily to aid administrators and politicians in both the developing and the developed countries, as well as to researchers and other persons with an active interest in the problems of international development co-operation.