From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#2 (November 1998), page 27

Push for more South-South cooperation

Meetings in New York and Tokyo spotlight importance for Africa

By Nii K. Bentsi-Enchill

Since developing countries still share common needs such as access to export markets and to external capital, South-South cooperation is more valid and relevant than ever, says UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette. She was speaking during the UN General Assembly's commemoration in early October of the 20th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for promoting and implementing technical cooperation among developing countries. South-South cooperation is an imperative and not an option in this age of globalization, added Mr. Gabriel Akunwafor of Nigeria, addressing the same meeting on behalf of African delegations.

Similar statements were made later that month at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (see page 1), where Japan pledged to help expand South-South (and particularly Asian) cooperation "to make further progress in African development." The efforts of Asian nations to share the experience of 30 years of rapid economic growth through technical cooperation and other means "will be highly useful to Africa," said Prime Minister Masahiko Komura. Besides maintaining the Asia-Africa Forum as an active framework for policy dialogue, Japan is planning an "African development network" of institutions for training and joint research on complex development issues. This network would consolidate links with Asia and other donor nations and organizations, and would start with an expansion of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture in Kenya to help build capacity for other African countries.

Japan's efforts to stimulate further South-South cooperation converge with some basic principles of the developing countries' Group of 77 and China (set up in 1964), and by the Group for South-South Consultation and Coordination (G-15), set up by the Non-Aligned Movement in 1989. These groupings also promote bilateral efforts to enhance South-South cooperation, with Brazil, India, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and Vietnam among the countries that assist with projects and programmes covering a wide range of areas including trade and investment, information technology, solar energy, agriculture and private sector development.

India, for example, set up its technical and economic cooperation programme (ITEC) in 1964 and has provided training in such fields as hydrology, communications, satellite imaging, small and medium industry, and renewable energy resources. Some 60 per cent of the 1,350 training slots are reserved for Africans, India's Ambassador Kamalesh Sharma told the General Assembly last October. Besides carrying out technical assistance projects in African countries, India also participates in triangular South-South cooperation. One example is a food security project in Eritrea for which India will provide technical assistance under the Food and Agriculture Organization's special programme on food security.

While Asia is the current focus, Africa has much to gain from cooperation with other regions, albeit with occasional political wrinkles. According to South Africa's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad, his country's relations with the Middle East are "of crucial importance because we are now living in a world of globalization and growing economic blocs," InterPress Service reported. In recent years, South Africa has developed trade links with Iran and its trade with the Middle East rose from $823 mn in 1993 to $2.2 bn last year. "South Africa's economic interests come first" and South-South cooperation "provides opportunities to develop new markets," says Mr. Pahad, a statement that may resonate through other African countries.

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