SUNS 4299 Monday 12 October 1998
DEVELOPMENT: THIRD WORLD URGED TO BOOST SOUTH-SOUTH LINKS
United Nations, Oct 8 (IPS) - Developing nations need to promote collective economic self-reliance so as to withstand the negative fallout from the spreading global financial crisis, the United Nations' second highest ranking official said Thursday.
Louise Frechette, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, said South-South cooperation encompassed two types of partnership: technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC) and economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC).
"The two inter-releated approaches are intended to enable the South to promote collective self-reliance and to participate effectively in the international economic system," she said.
Addressing a meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, Frechette said the benefits of South-South cooperation had been most manifest in the formation of regional
groupings across the developing world.
The action plan, adopted in 1978 at a U.N. conference in Argentina, outlines ways of enhancing links between developing nations, and how they can help one another to achieve equitable partnerships in economic development.
Frechette said many UN organisations, including regional economic commissions based in Addis Ababa, Bangkok and Santiago, were actively promoting policies that place greater emphasis on
South-South cooperation. This type of cooperation is also being targetted by regional economic groupings such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), the Andean Pact, the South African Development Committee (SADC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
"Through regional integration, many countries have expanded their market size, accelerated the pace of industrialisation and laid the foundation for a more systematic integration of production across national boundaries," Frechette added.
She said the unprecedented changes which have occurred in the international economic system since the 1980s make South-South cooperation more valid and relevant than ever as an instrument for helping developing countries to participate effectively in the emerging economic order. "If the countries of the South are to be masters of their destiny, they need to have an effective voice in
all international fora," she added.
Last month the 132 developing countries of the Group of 77 decided to hold a South Summit in mid-1999. The Cuban government has offered to host that meeting.
John Ohiorhenuan, Director of the U.N. Development Programme's (UNDP) Special Unit for TCDC, said South-South cooperation had become increasingly accepted as a vital dimension of development cooperation.
"As we enter the new millennium, the effective participation of developing countries in the processes of globalisation requires intense collective action and international support," he said.
Brazil and Chile have set up special funds to assist other developing countries in Latin America within the framework of TCDC. The UNDP has provided support to ASEAN, ECOWAS and the Central American Common Market and commodity groups such as the Union of Banana Producing Countries in efforts to strengthen their overall capacity.
Using networks to foster food security, the FAO has been instrumental in creating the Biogas Network in Latin America and has supported the establishment of Food Crops Networks. UNCTAD has supported a trade information network linking a number of Asian countries, in addition to sponsoring the Global Trade Point Network which uses modern information technology to trade promotion.
Ambassador Makarim Wibisono of Indonesia, chairman of the Group of 77, Wednesday proposed that the General Assembly proclaim a United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation.