Secretary-General’s Report on the State of South-South Cooperation Presented to the 2nd Committee
United Nations South-South and triangular cooperation support toward achieving the 2030 agenda highlighted
12 October, New York – On behalf of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang, UNOSSC Trust Fund Director and Chief of the Programme Support Unit, introduced the report of the Secretary-General on the State of South-South Cooperation (A/78/290), to the 2nd Committee of the General Assembly.
“The report outlines the current global development context and analyses new developments and opportunities in South-South and triangular cooperation,” said Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang, noting that the “UN Development System is making good progress in the implementation of the UN System-wide Strategy on South-South and triangular cooperation.”
Multiple crises call for unprecedented levels of international solidarity, noted Member States, calling for upscaling of South-South triangular cooperation towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.
Over 30 Member States delivered statements, with 18 specifically highlighting the critical role of South-South cooperation for development.
The Group of 77 reiterated its call to the United Nations development system to continue enhancing its support to South-South and triangular cooperation, at the request and with the ownership and leadership of the developing countries.
Nepal, on behalf of the Least Developed Countries Group, noted encouragement that UNOSSC’s South-South Galaxy, a United Nations system-wide knowledge-sharing and partnership platform, connects 500 registered organizations and offers a digital repository of over 900 development solutions.
Botswana, on behalf of the Landlocked Developing Countries Group, recognized the importance of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation in achieving the objectives of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries (VPoA) and the SDGs.
Member States expressed appreciation of the integration of South-South cooperation in Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of SDG implementation, which were collaboratively developed by the Co-Chairs of the Group of Friends of VNRs Morocco and the Philippines, and UNOSSC.
The impact of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, managed by UNOSSC – currently encompassing 66 development projects across 51 countries – was acknowledged.
The 2023 report of the Secretary-General was prepared based on research as well as a survey coordinated by UNOSSC among United Nations entities, and to quadrennial comprehensive policy review surveys conducted by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs among Member States, United Nations entities and resident coordinators.
Global challenges and emerging issues and trends in South-South and triangular cooperation are set out in section II of the report.
Section III contains a review of progress made by the United Nations development system in implementing the recommendations of the Buenos Aires outcome document.
Section IV provides a review of progress in the operationalization and implementation of the United Nations system-wide strategy on South-South and triangular cooperation for sustainable development, 2020–2024, which is coordinated by UNOSSC.
Section V contains conclusions and recommendations on the measures needed to further leverage South-South and triangular cooperation as urgently needed accelerators for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the face of multiple and interlocking crises.