South-South Cooperation

Photo: Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) with the Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) at the Great Hall of the $3.8 billion cost of the Naivasha-Kisumu phase of the Standard Gauge Railway to be provided as part of grant financing. Credit: Xinhua/Yin Bogu.

African Countries Seek Relief from Burgeoning Chinese Loans

By Allan Olingo

In the past 15 years, Beijing has written off more than $2 billion worth of debt advanced to African countries, says Allan Olingo, an accomplished business journalist from Kenya. This article first appeared in The East African on September 17, 2018.

NAIROBI (IDN-INPS) – Some African countries are now seeking to write off their loans from China while others are offering concessions using their natural resources and assets to manage their ballooning debt.

A new report by the U.S.-based Centre for Global Development shows that China’s loans to Africa, currently standing in excess of $14 billion, continue to rise, putting a strain on borrowers and posing the risk of default.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 September 2018

Photo: President Kagame meets Chinese President in Beijing. Credit: Paul Kagame's website.

African Critics Warn of Dark Side to China's ‘Charitable' Loans

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – There are two sides to every coin and two widely opposing views on China's offer of generous loans and grants to African countries announced at the recent China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Beijing.

At the conference, with representatives from 53 of 54 African countries, sky-high numbers were bandied about. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced $60 billion in funds for eight initiatives over the next three years, in areas ranging from industrial promotion, infrastructure construction and scholarships for young Africans.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 September 2018

Photo: Secretary General Shahidul Islam of the BIMSTEC has said member states, including Bangladesh and Myanmar, have shown their "diplomatic maturity" by not raising the Rohingya issue at the just-concluded Summit in Kathmandu. Credit: bdnews24.com

Foreigners Suspected of Using Rohingyas to Destabilise Region

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The Myanmar government has slammed a ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) declaring that they have jurisdiction to investigate the deportation of Rhoyingya Muslims as a possible crime against humanity. In a statement, Myanmar's President Win Myint dismissed September 6 ICC ruling as based on "faulty procedure" and described it as of "dubious legal merit".

In Dhaka, Secretary General Shahidul Islam of the regional grouping BIMSTEC told a press conference that both Bangladesh and Myanmar had shown "diplomatic maturity" by not raising contentious issues in a forum that is designed to promote economic cooperation.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 08 September 2018

Photo: The Fourth BIMSTEC Summit was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 30-31 August 2018. Credit: BIMSTEC.

BIMSTEC Viable, Though SAARC Deadlocked

By Sugeeswara Senadhira

The author is Director (Research & International Media), Presidential Secretariat in Colombo. This article first appeared in Ceylon Today on September 3, and is being reproduced with the author's permission. – The Editor

COLOMBO (IDN-INPS) – Sri Lanka, as the new Chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) has a special responsibility of ensuring speedy cooperation of the member states of the Bay region. Though this is not an easy task, Sri Lanka is fortunate because it can get maximum support from the regional super economic power, India, for this endeavour.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 04 September 2018

Parliamentarians Agree on Concrete Goals of Future ACP-EU Partnership

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and their counterparts from 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have adopted a series of far-reaching resolutions during the 35th session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) from June 18 to 20 in Brussels.

The resolutions relate to strengthening of the parliamentary dimension, llegal trade in plant protection products and seeds, social and environmental cnsequences of urbanisaton, fighting international terrorism, and humanitarian crisis in Southern Sudan.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 21 June 2018

Photo: First Anniversary Commemoration of the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. Credit: UNOSSC

UN Chief Lauds India for Deepening South-South Cooperation

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary‑General António Guterres has commended India's "very important role in shaping the Sustainable Development Goals". He was speaking at an event marking the first anniversary of the India‑United Nations Development Partnership Fund in New York.

The Fund aims at supporting sustainable development for low-income nations with 22 projects having already been approved in 25 partner countries ranging from hurricane rehabilitation and climate early warning system to government accountability and agriculture.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 10 June 2018

Photo: The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 where Prime Minister Modi (in the second row) announced the launch of a US$50 Million Commonwealth window. Credit: www.royal.uk

India Draws the Focus for South-South Cooperation

By Jaya Ramachandran

NEW YORK (IDN) – The India-UN Development Partnership Fund, a dedicated facility within the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation established in 2017, has drawn the focus following the announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the launch of a US$50 Million Commonwealth window.

This support, announced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 on April 19 in London, is in addition to US$100 million pledged in 2017 for the Fund, thus increasing India's multi-year contribution to US$150 million. The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) manages the Fund.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 29 April 2018

Photo: Night at Seomyeon, Busan, South Korea. Credit: Flickr, author Carey Ciuro. Creative Commons.

South Korea Urged to Keep Increasing Development Aid

By Tae Han Goo

SEOUL (IDN) – South Korea, often cited as a leading example of how sound economic policies can drive growth and development, blazing a trail from poverty to advanced industrialisation throughout the 1970s and 1980s, will have a greater impact on international development cooperation if it manages to produce a clear plan to increase aid volumes in line with its stated ambitions, according to a new OECD Review.

All the more so because building on its reputation as a development success, the country – officially known as the Republic of Korea – now plays a highly valued role on the global stage, sharing its knowledge with others and helping to bridge the divide between developing and developed country interests.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 February 2018

Photo: Ambassador Galo Yepez, Director of NGOs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of the Republic of Ecuador, addressing on behalf of the Group of 77 and China the High-Level Opening Ceremony of the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2017 on 27 November in Antalya, Turkey. Credit: UNOSSC

South-South Cooperation Complements North-South Coaction

By Ambassador Galo Yepez

Ambassador Galo Yepez is Director of NGOs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of the Republic of Ecuador. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China at the High-Level Opening Ceremony of the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2017 on 27 November in Antalya, Turkey. Read our report on the Expo. – The Editor.

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - The Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo this year highlights the South-South Cooperation in the Era of Economic, Social and Environmental Transformation. In this regard I have to emphasize that South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity among peoples and countries of the South that contributes to their national well-being, national and collective self-reliance and the attainment of the 2030 Agenda.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; The Group of 77; 13 December 2017

Photo: Experts discuss Good Practices of South-South Cooperation for Implementation of the SDGs: Development through Transformation Credit: UNOSSC

South-South Cooperation Holds the Key To Beating Global Development Challenges

By Jacques N. Couvas

ANKARA (IDN) – "Solutions for the South by the South” was the recurring theme that resounded throughout the duration of the Global South-South Development Expo 2017 (GSSD Expo) from November 27 to 30, 2017 in Antalya, the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast.

This landmark event of the United Nations (UN) system solely for the global South was held in the lead up to the Second High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation to be convened in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in March 2019. The Conference will mark the 40th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40) for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries. A High-Level Forum of National Directors-General for Development Cooperation discussed during the Expo insights and proposals for the preparatory process of the 2019 conference.