Norec (previously FK Norway) is a government agency created in 2000 which supports and oversees reciprocal exchange of personnel within the framework of institutional cooperation. It was the first Norwegian government institution to have developed a programmatic approach to South-South cooperation. It currently has 25 programme countries in the Global South. By the first quarter 2019, the number of professionals having spent a year abroad on Norec programmes since 2001 will surpass 10,000, of which approximately two-thirds have been recruited in the South. The number of institutional partners cooperating to send and receive them will likewise pass 1,500.