High-level meeting organized by UNCTAD and South Centre on Building South-South Solidarity on Climate Adaptation
Geneva, 25 October 2022
UNCTAD and South Centre believe that South-South solidarity is indispensable to ensure the needed international support for the Global South to break the eco-development trap, strengthen their climate adaption capacities, and achieve sustainable development. UNCTAD and South Centre therefore urge developing countries to build South-South solidarity and common positions in climate negotiations in the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement as well as in the trade and environment discussions at the WTO and other multilateral fora.
Key Messages from the High-level meeting organized by UNCTAD and South Centre on Building South-South Solidarity on Climate Adaptation
Geneva, 25 October 2022
Drawing on the discussions from the meeting organised by UNCTAD and South Centre on 25th October 2022 on “Building South-South Solidarity for Climate Adaptation”, UNCTAD and South Centre believe that South-South solidarity is indispensable to ensure the needed international support for the Global South to break the eco-development trap, strengthen their climate adaption capacities, and achieve sustainable development. UNCTAD and South Centre therefore urge developing countries to build South-South solidarity and common positions in climate negotiations in the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement as well as in the trade and environment discussions at the WTO and other multilateral fora.
The South’s Role and Responsibilities in the Next Phase of Multilateralism
By Elizabeth Sidiropoulos and Luanda Mpungose
The global erosion of trust in the global institutions is the direct result of non-delivery on the most crucial challenges that face humanity such as inequality, poverty, and climate change. South-South Cooperation can play a vital role in reinvigorating multilateralism. Beyond its horizontal engagements it has already begun supporting and enriching processes, institutions and norms-building at the global level. However, changing the superstructures that have discriminated against many developing countries will require a strategy that involves prioritising, coalition-building and coordination.
South-South and Triangular Cooperation: lessons from partnership between Argentina and Mozambique
By Federico Villegas
This article reviews some fruitful South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTrC) initiatives between Argentina and Mozambique. The initiatives received political support from both countries and showed that the relationship between South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation can be mutually reinforcing. SSTrC may channel financial resources from development partners to projects and initiatives that can produce highly effective development results.
IsDB and South Centre Advocate for Development of National Strategies for South-South and Triangular Cooperation
By the Islamic Development Bank
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 06 May 2021 – The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Geneva-based South Centre have strongly advocated for the formulation of national strategies for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
The two institutions made the call in a joint policy paper on National Ecosystems for South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTrC) titled ‘Policy Paper on National Strategies for SSTrC.’ The joint policy paper developed a framework on how to formulate the SSTrC strategies.
Policy Paper on National Strategies for South-South and Triangular Cooperation
For developing countries to realize the full potential of South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTrC) for achieving their national sustainable development objectives, it is important to formulate national SSTrC strategies as part of their national SSTrC ecosystems. Such national strategies would serve as guidance for a country’s SSTrC activities, initiatives and institutional framework, both as provider and beneficiary of SSTrC. This policy brief highlights the importance of developing national SSTrC strategies for achieving national development objectives and lays out the main elements that can be taken into consideration by developing countries for designing their national SSTrC strategies. While many developing countries do not have an explicit SSTrC strategy in place yet, the state of play shows that its elements can be found in various policies, institutional guidance and national development strategies. The absence of a holistic approach and a nationally acknowledged strategy carries the risk of fragmentation and incoherence in undertaking SSTrC activities. The potential of national SSTrC strategies for enabling effective responses to crises (such as COVID-19) is also explored.
This paper was developed jointly by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the South Centre based on the concept of the Islamic Development Bank on National Ecosystems for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
The South Centre is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in the year 2020. The Centre was established by an Intergovernmental Agreement which came into force on 31 July 1995. Its predecessor, the South Commission, recognized the need to strengthen South-South cooperation in international affairs. In its report The Challenge to the South, the South Commission emphasized the need for countries of the South to work together at the global level. That is why the Commission recommended the creation of a South organization charged with undertaking this challenge. The South Centre, an independent intergovernmental think-tank of developing countries, was then created to analyze the development problems of the developing countries, encourage them to value and share their common experience and provide intellectual and policy support for them to act collectively and individually, particularly at the international level.
Assessment Framework for National Ecosystem for South-South and Triangular Cooperation
The South Centre provided instrumental technical feedback for the development of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)’s NEW publication Assessment Framework for National Ecosystem for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
SOUTH-SOUTH AND TRIANGULAR COOPERATION IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19
Lessons, Experiences and Insights for the Future of Development Cooperation
The world is going through an unprecedented time, grappling with the socio-economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries are dealing with this challenge by strengthening their healthcare systems, conducting research to find a cure or vaccine and providing social safety nets to make sure those who are vulnerable don’t suffer extreme consequences. In this context, many countries have also been helping each other through South-South and Triangular Cooperation. Stakeholders ranging from governments to bilateral cooperation agencies, private sector to civil society, have learned many lessons, enhanced their experiences and gained new insights into development cooperation.
This webinar will provide an opportunity to discuss early lessons learned and share experiences from the development cooperation scene in the context of the ongoing pandemic, while looking into specific insights about how South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTrC) has been used so far, and how it can further be strengthened to benefit development cooperation in times of severe and sudden external shocks in the future.
Join speakers from various cooperation and development agencies from across the globe and share your insights through this event!
Reverse Linkage: IsDB’s Role in Deploying the Power of South-South Cooperation to Tackle COVID-19 Pandemic
Message from H.E. Dr. Bandar M. H. Hajjar, President, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, on the occasion of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation
The Role of South-South Cooperation in Combatting Illicit Financial Flows
By Manuel F Montes
Developing countries bear the brunt of costs from illicit financial flows (IFFs). These losses are the result of the facilities that the global system provides transnational companies, operating in multiple tax jurisdictions, to move their profits to favorable locations. International cooperation has been seen to be a key ingredient in restricting IFFs. However, a difference in interests in the treatment of many types of transactions between developed and developing countries is an obstacle to a fast solution of the problem. Developing countries must seek to seize the initiative to restrict their losses from IFFs. They can deploy various joint and concerted actions, within the umbrella of the principles of South-South cooperation for this purpose.
Third Annual Developing Country Forum on South-South Cooperation in International Tax Matters (Report)
The South Centre organized, in cooperation with the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Finance of India, the Third Annual Developing Country Forum on South-South Cooperation in International Tax Matters (the Forum). The Forum is an activity of the South Centre Tax Initiative (SCTI) which serves as a platform owned by developing countries to facilitate the networking and access to their officials to technical and academic resources, as well as to provide a venue for discussion among developing countries to identify collective efforts towards their participation in international tax fora and negotiations on matters of global economic governance. Discussions during the forum addressed the most relevant tax issues that may impact developing countries currently being discussed at the international level, especially in the OECD. The Forum also allowed the exchange of expertise among developing countries coming from Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa, which consolidated this space as a necessary mechanism to identify coordinated positions among developing countries towards the consolidation of a network of tax officials from developing countries and strengthening their voice in the international fora.
