North-South Cooperation

Photo: Delegations attending the 41st Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 and China held at the UN headquarters in New York on 22 September 2017.

G77 and China Stress South-South and North-South Cooperation

By Adriano José Timossi*

NEW YORK (IDN) - A review of the economic situation with a focus on the recent developments in the world and the economic, social and environmental challenges faced by developing countries in particular was the main topic in the deliberations and declaration adopted at the 41st Ministerial Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 (G77) and China on September 22 at the UN headquarters in New York on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly.

Ministers were deeply concerned about the uneven progress achieved in fulfilling the interrelated internationally agreed commitments made at numerous UN conferences in the economic, social and environmental fields and by the lack of satisfactory progress in this regard.

: South Centre; UN INSIDER; 27 September 2017

Photo: The G20 summit kicked off with the traditional family photo. Credit: Bundesregierung/Güngör

G20 Summit Unlikely to Change the World for the Better

By Samantha Sen

HAMBURG (IDN) - The moment said almost all at the G20 summit in Hamburg July 7-8. The heads of government were gathered in a hall, they were requested to turn around towards a presentation. All looked in the direction required – except for U.S. President Donald Trump. And so everyone was looking one way, the U.S. President another. He turned around after a nudge.

Which is where the ‘almost’ comes in. Momentary symbolism on offer like this has to stop somewhere. Trump was given that nudge by British Prime Minister Teresa May. It isn’t May trying to turn Trump towards a consensus with other leaders; she’s looking her own other way herself. And she refused to raise climate change with Trump in the course of a 50-minute bilateral meeting; she only raised it informally after that meeting had ended.

: Samantha Sen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of Twenty (G20); 11 July 2017

Photo (from left to right): Ambassador Samuel Outlule of Botswana; Professor Adekeye Adebajo of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Anna Knoll, Head of the ECDPM Migration Programme; ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes; Klaus Rudischhauser, Deputy Director General of European Commission’s DG DEVCO; Ambassador Edwin Laurent, Head of the Ramphal Institute; Ambassador Dr Kaire Mbuende of Namibia; Ambassador Baso Sangqu of South Africa. Credit: ACP

The ACP Celebrates 42nd Birthday and Reflects on the Future

By Klara Smits

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States commemorated 'ACP Day 2017' on June 2, reflecting on "development partnership" with the European Union (EU), which it described as "a multi-dimensional and transformative experience".

These issues were discussed in two panels. But in greater detail in the book – The ACP Group and the EU Development Partnership: Beyond the North-South Debate – launched on the occasion. The book constitutes a systematic and critical assessment of the nature, evolution, and prospects of the development partnership between the 79-member African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the 28-member European Union (EU).

: Klara Smits; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 03 June 2017

Photo: The ACP Secretary-General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes and the Prime Minister of Estonia Jüri Ratas signed a Memorandum of Understanding on May 31 in the margins of the 2017 Tallinn Conference on E-Governance, on behalf of the ACP Group of States and the Government of Estonia.

Why Developing Countries Strive to Embrace e-Governance

By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General

Following are extensive excerpts from the opening remarks by the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) at the high-level E-Governance Conference on 30 May 2017 in Tallinn, Estonia.

BRUSSELS (IDN-INPS) – Many institutions and organizations (public and private) in developing countries, such as ACP (the African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries, have embraced the utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to address the various opportunities and challenges in the context of their respective development strategies.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 02 June 2017

Photo: African leaders and heads of international organizations as well as the UN Secretary-General joined G7 heads of state and government on May 27, the concluding day of the Summit. Credit: G7 Italy.

UN Chief Underscores the Need to Invest in Africa's Youth

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | TAORMINA (IDN) – The Group of Seven (G7) leaders has in its 'Taormina Communiqué' underscored that "Africa’s security, stability and sustainable development are high priorities". But it has yet to respond to UN Secretary-General António Guterres' specific call for the need to invest in young people, with stronger investment in technology and relevant education and capacity building in Africa.

The two-day G7 summit in Italy, in which the leaders of six other industrial nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.S. also took part, concluded on May 27 in Taormina, a hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily, Italy.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 May 2017

Photo: Katse Dam, one of Lesotho Highlands Water Project funded with foreign aid. Credit: Ntsoaki Nkoe | IDN-INPS

Foreign Aid Not the Answer for Africa

By Ntsoaki Nkoe

MASERU, Lesotho (IDN) – Research indicates that the African continent as a whole receives roughly 50 billion dollars of international aid each year – yet instead of drastically improving the living conditions of those living below the poverty line, this aid often makes the rich richer, the poor poorer and hinders economic growth, not to mention catalysing the vicious cycle of corruption.

Economist Dr. Moeketsi Majoro – former Minister of Economic Planning in Lesotho who has also worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – believes that after the many mistakes made in aid operations, donor countries have now learned lessons about how their generosity had been turned into supporting dictatorships, undermining domestic economic activity and creating dependencies.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 May 2017

Photo: Daniel Osiemo, acting NEPAD Kenya Secretariat Chief Executive Officer (left) and Estherine Fotabong, Director of Programmes (right), NEPAD agency addressing the press during the launch of the Skills Initiative for Africa consultative Workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: Wanzala Justus | IDN-INPS

Access of African Youth to Labour Market Receives Boost

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – The African Union (AU) in collaboration with the government of Germany has established an initiative to help young Africans acquire practical skills for meeting the needs of labour markets.

The aim is to strengthen their occupational prospects in view of the continent’s unemployment crisis.

Most hit are young people, with around 60 percent of the unemployed under the age of 25. Key players in implementation of the initiative are the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the German government’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, as well as the German KfW Development Bank. NEPAD is a socio-economic development flagship programme of the AU.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 May 2017

Photo: Presenting projects at OGP. Credit: A.D. McKenzie

Paris Summit Gives Global Lessons in Transparency

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – If you have always suspected that politicians around the world tend to belong to certain cliques and to have attended particular schools, there is now a digital tool being developed to confirm (or deny) your suspicions.

Called 'Cargografías', this was one of the many data instruments presented at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit that took place in Paris from December 7 to 9 and brought together government and civil society representatives working for greater transparency in the public interest.

“The idea is that citizens have the right to know about public officials,” said Pablo Pignolo, a Uruguayan software analyst and developer who works on Cargografías with colleagues from other Latin American countries.

: A.D. McKenzie; FOREIGN AID; North-South Cooperation; 13 December 2016

Photo: Japan’s senior vice-minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries Taku Eto tries out a Japanese-made tilling machine in Cameroon. Credit: The Government of Japan

Japan Moves Prestigious Africa Conference to Kenya

Analysis by Kingsley Ighobor

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) - To many Africans, Japan is a country acclaimed for economic and technological prowess. Johnson Obaluyi in Lagos, Nigeria, says Toyota, the ubiquitous automotive manufacturer, comes to mind whenever Japan is mentioned. For Kwesi Obeng, a Ghanaian living in Nairobi, Kenya, it is technology. Beageorge Cooper, a consultant for the World Bank in Monrovia, Liberia, says she thinks of Japan as “a former world economic power”.

But it’s a different matter when Africans are asked about Japan-Africa relations. “I will have to read up on that,” says Cooper. “I think we are importing their Toyotas,” recollects Obaluyi. “They support research into tropical diseases in Africa,” says Obeng.

Such scant knowledge of the full gamut of Japan-Africa relations hardly reflects the true picture on the ground, considering that it was as recently as 2013 that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced a whopping $32 billion five-year support for Africa’s development projects.