Promoting Trade in Services to Advance Global Development Cooperation
Presentation of Dr. Carlos M. Correa, South Centre Executive Director, at the Seminar “Promoting Trade in Services to Advance Global Development Cooperation” organized by the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations in Geneva, 28 May 2026
With world services exports surpassing 9.5 trillion USD in 2025, we are living through a boom of trade in services largely supported by the growing use of digital technologies. But many developing countries risk being left behind due to persistent gaps in digital infrastructure, skills, and regulatory frameworks.
The Digital Trade Data Heist: Trade Agreement Limits on Data Transfer and Storage Regulation Could Undercut Data Governance
By Daniel Rangel, Jai Vipra, and Lori Wallach
Governments worldwide are increasingly regulating how data is collected, transferred and stored to advance public interest objectives, including privacy, national security, taxation of the digital economy, and competition in the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) field. However, recent “digital trade” rules in international agreements — particularly those modeled on the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) — restrict governments’ ability to regulate cross-border data flows or to require local data storage. This paper analyzes the expanding divergence between domestic data-governance measures and binding trade commitments. It evaluates three major models of digital trade rules (USMCA, Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur), and European Union–New Zealand) and demonstrates that the USMCA framework imposes the most sweeping constraints and the weakest exceptions. The analysis also shows that such trade rules may hinder broader regulatory efforts related to taxation and AI accountability.
Meeting the 2030 Target on Reducing the Global Burden of AMR: Pathways for Strengthening and Leveraging Surveillance in Developing Countries
By Prateek Sharma and Viviana Munoz Tellez
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) poses a major and growing threat to global health, yet low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face significant challenges in implementing AMR surveillance –collection and analysis of data on AMR. Global AMR targets, including the United Nations’ goal of reducing AMR-associated deaths by 10 percent by 2030 and achieving diagnostic capacity in 80 percent of countries, rely on surveillance data that are often incomplete, hospital-centered, and unrepresentative of community infections in LMICs. While the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) of the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a standardized framework, in LMICs limited access to diagnostics, high laboratory costs, and reliance on data from specialized hospitals constrain participation and data comparability. Modeling studies have helped quantify the global burden of AMR, yet their reliance on sparse LMIC data underscores the need for improved primary surveillance. Achieving the United Nations’ 2030 target—where 80 per cent of countries can test resistance in all GLASS pathogens—will require substantial investment, technical support, and sustained political commitment. Embedding AMR surveillance within health systems and strengthening pandemic prevention and preparedness can help unlock external funding for eligible LMICs through the Pandemic Fund and the Global Fund.
Statement Delivered by the South Centre to the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79)
Agenda Item 12.5 Primary Healthcare Agenda Item 12.8 Report of the Expert Advisory Group on the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel
Primary healthcare (PHC) is the backbone of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), health system resilience and the right to health. It is our first line of defense in emergencies and pandemics. Bold investment in PHC is overdue. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), the health workforce, integrated services and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) response cannot wait.
27 TH SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT (21 MAY 2026, PDN-TEMPUS)
Panel: Tax-related illicit financial flows and the right to development
South Centre Intervention
The South Centre’s spoke at the United Nations’ 27th Session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development on a panel discussion on tax-related illicit financial flows and the right to development.
Key points:
– The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) must include tax avoidance in the definition of tax-related illicit financial flows (TIFFs)
– UNFCITC must also include an effective monitoring mechanism so progress on reducing TIFFs can be measured
– Public Country by Country Reporting (pCBCR) of tax paid is a key component of the fight against TIFFs and the South Centre is taking various actions to promote pCBCR
– UNFCITC’s second protocol’s tools on dispute prevention like joint audits have huge potential to reduce TIFFs
– UNFCITC’s Conference of Parties will play a central role in ensuring effectiveness and must be well designed.
Statement by the South Centre on the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement
Geneva, 18 May 2026
The South Centre welcomes the one-year extension to finalise the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) Annex.
Developing countries showed remarkable unity and put forward concrete proposals. Had these been the basis of work, negotiations could have concluded sooner. Now all Parties must rise to the moment and deliver an Annex that meaningfully advances equity in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Statement by the South Centre to the Forty-eighth Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR 48)
Geneva, 18 May 2026
Limitations and Exceptions (L&Es) must be the priority. The Broadcasting Treaty must not expand beyond its mandate. Copyright in the digital environment must serve Global South creators. Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) studies are premature without development safeguards. See our statement to the Forty-eighth Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights.
Jointly build peace, stability, and development for a new win-win future
Intervention by Dr. Carlos Correa, Executive Director, South Centre at the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum, Cairo, Egypt, May 12-23, 2026
The need to jointly build peace, stability and development for a win-win future is both timeless and urgent. The recent military aggression against countries of the Global South represents a major setback for decades of diplomatic work towards a peaceful coexistence and respect for national sovereignty. See the intervention by Dr. Carlos Correa, Executive Director, South Centre under the theme ‘Jointly build peace, stability, and development for a new win-win future’, at the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum, Cairo, Egypt, May 12-23, 2026.
Leading Global Artificial Intelligence Governance from Outcomes to Impact
By Aishwarya Narayanan and Danish
The proliferation of high-level events on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years has contributed to a global AI governance framework that marginalises many developing countries’ priorities. The India-AI Impact Summit, as the first AI summit of its kind to be held in the Global South, has shown how the views, needs and concerns of the developing and least developed nations can be placed at the heart of the global AI agenda.
Through the lens of the India-AI Impact Summit, this policy brief underscores the need to build synergies between AI summit outcomes, UN-based discussions and multistakeholder initiatives. It posits how coherence among these diverse processes can be advanced through the work of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance under the UN. The brief concludes with recommendations for building greater convergence on global AI governance that supports sustainable development in the Global South.
No Country Can Cruise Past Collective Responsibility: The Hantavirus Outbreak
By Dr. Viviana Munoz Tellez
The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius is a vivid reminder of why global health cooperation matters. It is one of many simultaneous outbreaks WHO is responding to, at a time the broader architecture of global health is under growing strain. The WHO faces deep funding shortfalls as some governments retreat from multilateralism. Despite International Health Regulations strengthened in response to COVID-19 and a newly adopted Pandemic Agreement, the system for pathogen access and benefit sharing that it must contain remains unfinished. Every country’s health security depends on global collaboration and solidarity.
Input for the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee
Study on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence Systems on Good Governance
South Centre
May 2026
The South Centre has submitted technical input to the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee regarding AI systems and governance. The submission analyses the integration of AI through the framework of Rule of Law principles: effectiveness, accountability, and inclusiveness.
