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Agenda 21 indicates the work that research policy makers, funding organisations and researchers themselves need to do in order to achieve sustainable development in both North and South. Research on sustainability in the 21st century requires us to go beyond purely offer-driven research collaboration. Balanced partnerships and common agenda setting are of crucial importance. All attempts have to start where the Southern partners are and not when the North wants - or expects - them to be. However, a shift in the agenda setting is an issue which does not only concern the North. A fundamental change in prevailing attitudes is also needed in the South: governments have to set priorities at the policy level and to create appropriate frameworks which allow for the development of a self-confident research system.