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UN chief stresses South-South cooperation's role in implementing sustainable development agenda

Xinhua, September 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has highlighted the key role that South-South cooperation can play in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to be adopted at an upcoming summit to be held later this month.

In his message to mark the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation that falls on Saturday this year, the secretary-general said "despite ongoing challenges, developing countries have become critical actors in the global socioeconomic landscape."

"A majority have joined the middle-income club, and some have attained impressive economic growth, high savings and investment rates, and a larger share of trade in goods and services," he said.

The global South is also home to many high-quality enterprises, technological competencies and leading finance and banking institutions. The New Development Bank recently established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as the proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, hold considerable promise to complement existing sources of finance for development, said Ban.

Therefore, "South-South cooperation can play a key role in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is to be adopted by world leaders at a summit later this month at UN Headquarters," said the UN chief. "As we embark on efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to accelerate development momentum across the South, including by building resilience and mitigating risk."

The secretary-general also called on the world to "recognize the great potential of South-South cooperation to improve the well-being of the vast majority of the world's people."

The United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda will be held from Sept. 25-27 in New York, according to the UN website.

The UN Day for South-South Cooperation was previously set on Dec. 19 by the UN General Assembly in 2003. In December 2011, the General Assembly decided to advance the date to Sept. 12 in a bid to mark the day in 1978 when the United Nations Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, according to the UN website. Endit