25 January 2016
“The New Development Bank of the BRICS and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are examples of major new initiatives being driven by emerging economies,” said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark in her address to the First Regular Session of the UNDP Executive Board Monday.
The Executive Board has been briefed on the near final draft of UNDP’s strategy on South-South and triangular cooperation, Ms. Clark said, stressing that UNDP is grateful to the many Member States that have engaged with us on the development of the strategy.
In implementing the strategy, “UNDP will work in close partnership with the United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC),” Ms. Clark said.
The delegation of China welcomed the increase of UNDP support to South-South and triangular cooperation, and encouraged the Programme, as the institutional host of UNOSSC, to provide additional “financial, personnel and policy backing” to the work of the Office.
In response to Member States demand to improve coordination of UN system support to South-South cooperation, UNDP is providing financial and technical support to the UNDG Task Team on South-South and Triangular Cooperation to map good practices and lessons learned. When finalized, these good practices are to be shared with UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams that work with Governments to enhance South-South approaches at the country level. Best practices will also be shared with Member States during the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation in May 2016.
The delegation of Ecuador, speaking on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), noted the critical importance of UNDP in the field of South-South cooperation. “South-South cooperation is an expanding and dynamic cooperation modality, and a vital complement to confront the development challenges faced by developing countries in the Agenda for Sustainable Development context,” the delegations expressed in a statement.
The delegation of Bangladesh called on UNDP to strengthen South-South cooperation toward accelerating implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 (IPoA).
Finally, many delegations associated themselves with the call of the Group of 77 and China for UNDP to revise the timeframe proposed for consultations on its draft South-South and triangular cooperation strategy in order to allow for the necessary deliberations of Member States, in particular developing countries who are the drivers of South-South and triangular cooperation.
In response, the Administrator said that discussions will continue, meanwhile UNDP would continue to be actively engaged in South-South cooperation for development.
Statement of UNDP Administrator Helen Clark: