Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished participants,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.
The Candidate Countries Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, as well as the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.
Mr. President,
The European Union welcomes that this High-level Conference is taking place in the forum of the United Nations. We have gathered here to mark the importance of and to promote South-South cooperation. We particularly aim to understand better how to strengthen the role of the United Nations system in supporting South-South and triangular cooperation. We are also here to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries and the Buenos Aires Plan of Action.
In recent years, South-South cooperation has grown rapidly among the developing countries. The European Union welcomes this development and is committed to continue to support South-South Cooperation, including through triangular cooperation.
The EU also highlights the importance of and its support for regional integration and cooperation which have fuelled economic progress, leading to further expansion of South-South flows of finance, technology and trade.
The current financial and economic crisis has enhanced the role that South-South cooperation can play as a complement to North-South cooperation. Global challenges of our time have created opportunities for North-South as well as South-South cooperation in areas such as climate change, migration, food security and trade. These challenges need to be addressed jointly in finding common ground on basic principles with a view to better use the synergies between the two forms of cooperation. The Prime Minister of Kenya stated earlier today in our meeting the importance of a successful outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The global crises we are facing put the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals at risk and the international community has to step up its support to developing countries in their struggle to reach the goals. As a complement to North-South cooperation, South-South cooperation can make an important contribution to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.
Just like North-South cooperation, South-South cooperation has much to gain from building on the principles of aid effectiveness contained in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action. Therefore, all actors engaged in development cooperation are encouraged to use these principles as a point of reference in providing development cooperation with a view to further increase and improve its impact.
Strengthening national ownership, supporting national development strategies, aligning with host countries´ institutions and systems, ensuring a suitable division of labour between development actors, improving accountability and transparency, to mention some of the aid effectiveness principles, all lead to a greater impact of South-South cooperation initiatives ¬– to the benefit of the poor.
The upcoming High-Level Event on South-South Cooperation and Capacity Development hosted by Colombia in March 2010, provides an important opportunity to elaborate on the synergies between the principles of aid effectiveness and the practices of South-South cooperation.
South-South cooperation is one of many instruments for development cooperation. It should be promoted and supported when it is found to be the most appropriate and effective methodology. As any other instrument it should be nationally owned, demand driven and results based.
There is need for better understanding of the particularities, the potential and the impact of South-South cooperation. There is little documentation on what actually works and the methodological framework is not elaborated. Improved methods for collecting reliable, comprehensive and comparable data on South-South cooperation are needed, as well as more information sharing and dissemination of best practices and lessons learned.
By embracing principles of aid effectiveness and enabling improved data and information flows, South-South cooperation can become an even more powerful factor in development cooperation. Development should be seen as one comprehensive and transparent approach towards the fulfilment of globally shared goals and commitments. South-South cooperation constitutes an additional option, not an alternative, to North-South cooperation.
Thank you.
* The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.