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DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Backs Rising South-South Cooperation

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 5 2007 (IPS) - Dramatically explosive growth in trade and investments among the world&#39s developing nations has prompted a call to strengthen the growing economic trend at a proposed international conference on South-South cooperation.

Making a strong pitch for a high-level U.N conference in 2008, the chairman of the 130-member Group of 77 developing countries Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan said that in the overall context of multilateralism, South-South cooperation is "a growing phenomenon."

"It is an important process that is vital to confront the challenges faced by developing nations, and is also making an increasingly important contribution to their development," he added.

A final decision on the proposed conference is in the hands of the 192-member General Assembly.

Addressing a high-level meeting on South-South cooperation last week, Akram said that South-South trade has come to represent about 40 percent of the trade of developing countries, and has grown, on average, at the rate of 11 percent a year over the past decade.

In a 19-page report released here, the United Nations says "the outstanding economic performance of Brazil, China and India, as well as a number of pivotal developing countries, including Chile, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand, has, through South-South cooperation, had a significant impact on the development prospects of other countries in the global South."

In 2005, the combined output of developing economies accounted for more than half of the total world gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Least Developed Countries, Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, said the U.N. progress report released last week records that the agenda for South-South Cooperation has expanded significantly to include not only economic and technical sectors but also security, good governance, health and the environment.

"It needs also to be borne in our deliberations that South-South cooperation is changing the landscape of international relations, particularly in trade, financial flows and regional integration," he told delegates.

The 30-year-old Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, housed in the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), has remained the focal point to promote cooperation among developing nations.

UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis said the time is ripe for a reevaluation of the South&#39s role in its own cooperation and development, including examining the most beneficial ways in which the U.N. development system can support those efforts.

Dervis said South-South trade grew rapidly over the past decade, reaching 562 billion dollars in 2004 compared with 222 billion dollars in 1995.

South-South foreign direct investments have also increased: from 14 billion dollars in 1995 to 47 billion dollars in 2003, according to the latest available figures.

Meanwhile, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has moved to create a free trade zone by 2015, instead of 2020 as originally envisaged.

The Middle East now has a Greater Arab Free Trade Area created in 2005, while a South Asian Free Trade Agreement was signed in January 2006.

In Africa, existing free trade zones such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the East African Community have been strengthened and consolidated through new and existing trade and development agreements, according to the study.

The member countries of ASEAN – Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia – have also significantly increased their partnership with China, which is a member of the Group of 77.

By the end of 2005, China had invested 1.08 billion dollars in ASEAN while Chinese businessmen have opened more than 1,000 enterprises in ASEAN countries, according to the U.N. study.

In 2006, China earmarked preferential loans totaling about 5.0 billion dollars to encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in ASEAN. In June 2006, China concluded a China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, which is be fully implemented in 2010.

Last week, the New York Times reported that China has also established new partnerships in outer space technology and in building communications satellites.

Besides the launching of a new communications satellite for Nigeria, China has contracts with Venezuela, and also plans to set up earth observation satellite systems with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru and Thailand.

Addressing delegates last week, Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz of Cuba singled out the increasing cooperation between his country and the developing world.

Since 1961, he said, Cuba has cooperated with 154 countries and offered the services of more than 270,000 Cuban professionals, of whom 131,770 were doctors, health professionals and technicians.

Also contributing to this objective, he added, was the creation in Cuba, in 1998, of the Latin American School of Medicine, which has been home to more than 9,000 students, mainly from Latin America, but also from Africa and even the United States.

The United Nations points out that South-South cooperation has expanded considerably in several other fields, including assistance during natural disasters; growing concerns about the impact of climate change; terrorist attacks; the spread of HIV-AIDS; and other transnational threats.

The newly-established ASEAN Earthquake Information Centre in Singapore facilitates dissemination of information to member countries through the Internet, while the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Bangkok coordinates national early warning centres for tsunamis.

In Latin America, South-South triangular capacity-building is being promoted through organisations such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Mercado Comun Sudamericano (MERCOSUR) and the South American Community of Nations.

The countries in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to focus on issues relating to telecommunications, the environment and energy for sustainable development.

The U.N. study also says that a number of countries, such as India and China, have established themselves as key players in the development of information and communications technology, while several others, including Costa Rica and the Philippines, are now quickly emerging as leaders in this field in their respective regions.

A "notable achievement" is attempts by Rwanda to become the "Silicon Valley of East Africa." Currently, Rwanda serves as the headquarters for the East Africa Submarine Cable System initiative: a 280 million dollar project that will serve Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania.

"The country&#39s Vision 2025 to build a &#39modern knowledge-based economy&#39 has given impetus to similar projects in Sierra Leone, and discussions about the potential for other landlocked developing countries to use the information and communication technology plans of Rwanda as a model," the study noted.

Chowdhury said: "It goes without saying that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for North-South cooperation."

"Rather, it is complementary to North-South cooperation. The United Nations is the best placed among multilateral institutions to play the role that is needed to give the South-South agenda the focus and importance it needs."

He said the initiatives for a proposed Global South Development Forum (GSDF) and the Southern Leaders&#39 Round Table (SLRT) deserve whole-hearted encouragement and full support.