Reverse Linkage

17 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION T he world aspires to – and has envisioned – a future free of poverty which is to be gained through the achievement of internationally agreed goals, including, most recently, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda, which guides global development efforts, stresses the importance of South- South cooperation (SSC) in achieving sustainable development. Goal 17, in particular, places emphasis on SSC and Triangular Cooperation in achieving these ambitious development objectives. SSC, as a complement to traditional development assistance, wherever needed, offers enormous opportunities and potential to support accelerating progress towards achieving the Goals. In recent years, the scope of SSC has expanded well beyond technical cooperation and knowledge exchanges to include trade, investment, infrastructure and other fields of connec- tivity as well as the coordination of development policies and strategies among developing countries. SSC has also become more visible in regional and global development discourse and initiatives. New SSC initiatives are increasingly facili- tating regional, subregional and interregional integration. Over recent years, the countries of the Global South have generated about half of the world’s GDP and contributed greatly to economic growth. An increasing momentum is being supported by the strengthened institutionalisation of collaborative efforts. The development of formal rules, informal norms, and dedicated organizations has moved SSC increasingly into the mainstream of policymaking. At the same time, there is an ongoing expansion of Southern actors – including subnational entities such as municipal and provincial governments and non-state stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society and academia – that are utilising SSC approaches to carry out their core functions. SSC has to be understood as an important and complemen- tary framework to traditional North-South Cooperation. However, despite its remarkable gains, SSC also faces multiple developmental challenges, and it is in this context that this innovative modality, together with Triangular Cooperation, must play its role in the arena of development. SSC in the United Nations system In the United Nations development system, SSC emerged as an appropriate and innovative instrument of techni- cal cooperation in the 1970s when countries of the world, precipitated by an unprecedented series of financial and economic crises, negotiated a new international economic order. Within the same process, developing countries sought dependable avenues for achieving economic and social progress through collective, self-reliant measures. That led to the convening of the UnitedNations Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September 1978 (BAPA). The Conference adopted a landmark plan of action with comprehensive guidelines for the United Nations, other intergovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders to observe and incorporate into their development policies and programmes. Those guidelines aimed at promoting the sharing of experiences, technological and managerial expertise, training facilities, and other creative assets among developing countries in various socio-economic spheres in the spirit of solidarity and friendly cooperation and on mutually agreeable and affordable terms. Also included in those guidelines was a role for developed countries, a cata- lytic, facilitative and supplementary role, which has brought triangularity to this mode of cooperation. All that was carefully crafted to ensure the fullest respect for national sovereignties and ownership, and avoidance of compul- sive and uncomfortable conditions in all South-South and Triangular Cooperation policies and operations. United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation Hosted by UNDP since 1974, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations with a mandate to advocate for and coordinate South-South and Triangular United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation in partnership with IsDB Jorge Chediek, Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation and Director, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation