Statement of President Mbeki under the Council Agenda Item 5
8 May 2025
Pres. Thabo Mbeki, Chair of the South Centre Board, thanked the Centre for continuing to work for the adoption of frameworks, rules & policies that promote the common interest of the Global South. He also called on Member States to address structural asymmetries & support efforts to achieve SDGs, as well as to ensure the Centre’s sustainability. In commemoration of the South Centre’s 30th anniversary this year, he also expressed that the Centre is proud to have preserved the values and have worked hard to make a reality the visions and aspirations of the founders of the Centre, led by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, one of the great leaders of the Global South.
Statement to the 10th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development
28 October 2024
The South Centre is participating in the 10th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development at UN Geneva, exploring innovative solutions for the full realization of the Right to Development in the Global South.
UNCTAD at 60: Reflections on six decades of promoting economic development for the Global South
By Yuefen Li and Danish
The United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) celebrated its 60th anniversary in June 2024 in Geneva, holding a high-level Global Leaders Forum that brought together ministers, officials and experts to discuss the multidimensional challenges facing countries, and strategies for advancing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It highlighted the need for innovative solutions to address current global crises that can promote resilience, economic growth and sustainable development.
Graduating from the LDC Group: Challenges Facing Bangladesh
by Mustafizur Rahman
A significant number of LDCs will be graduating in the near term future. On graduation these countries will face formidable challenges as they will lose the benefits accruing from LDC-specific international support measures. Bangladesh is the first major LDC which is slated for graduation, to take place in November 2026. This article examines the various graduation challenges facing Bangladesh, and articulates some of the strategies that the country needs to pursue in order to graduate with momentum and make graduation sustainable.
DATA FOR DEVELOPMENT: HOW TO LEGALLY CHARACTERIZE DATA?
SOUTH CENTRE’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE eTRADE FOR ALL LEADERSHIP DIALOGUE OF THE UNCTAD eCOMMERCE WEEK 2022
Radical technological changes have always challenged pre-existing legal frameworks as demonstrated, for instance, by the commercialization of computer software independently from hardware and the use of genetic information to develop biotechnological innovations in various areas such as health and agriculture. The emergence of big data is a new and outstanding example of such situations. With the growing digitalization of multiple activities, ranging from education and health to ‘smart farming’ and the supply of the most diverse goods, the production and storage of data have exploded. Individuals, businesses and governments are generating an immense amount of data and this will only continue to grow in the future. Yet, the legal characterization of data is still a matter of considerable divergencies and debate. Policy makers and scholars are still searching for legal approaches suitable to address the complex relationships among producers, processors, controllers and users of data…
Escaping the Fragility/Conflict Poverty Trap: How the interaction between service delivery, capacity development and institutional transformation drives the process of transition out of fragility
By Mamadou Dia
The main background and rationale of this research paper is that while donors’ scaled-up engagements in Fragility and Conflict-affected States (FCS) during the last decades were a resounding success in terms of official development resources devoted to FCS, the value for money compared to the ultimate goal of helping these countries move out of fragility was well below expectations. The World Bank ex post evaluation of the results of its engagement in FCS found that 80 percent of FCS that were on the harmonized list of fragile situations in 2012 remain on it today and the author’s observational study of a sample of 16 African FCS over a 5-year period found that only 1 made progress while 12 stayed in the status quo and 3 regressed. The main reason for the poor value for money is that while International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have spent tremendous amount of resources and brain power to build an excellent knowledge base about fragility and resilience, no such efforts were made to help understand the process and stages for a successful transition from fragility to resilience. The purpose of this paper is to help fill the knowledge gap in order to encourage development partners engaging in FCS to shift from a Fragility-focused to a Transition-based Engagement Business Model and thus minimize the risks of the poor value for money results. The paper will do so by outlining a methodology and framework for a better understanding of the process and a road map for a successful transition from fragility to resilience with measurable stage/sign posts and benchmarks to evaluate progress and necessary adaptation to donors’ strategic and operational support instruments.
