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.
Photo: Korea International Cooperation Agency
Similar statements were made later that month at the Tokyo International
Conference on African Development (see article "Tokyo conference urges
Africa support despite global crisis"), 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.
