South-South Cooperation

Photo: Collage of images from the African Union and German agency GIZ.

World's Largest Free Trade Area Opens for Business in Africa

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — The opening of the world's largest free trade area in Africa on January 1, 2021, is of great interest to Russia. It comes more than one year after the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on the Black Sea. As Russian President Vladimir Putin then said: "The event really opened a new page in relations between Russia and the states of the African continent."

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) spanning 54 states over the next years has the potential to unite more than 1.3 billion people in a $2.5 trillion economic bloc.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 19 February 2021

Overcoming Vaccine Inequities and Enabling Small States' Post-Covid19 Recovery

Viewpoint by P. I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The “catastrophic moral failure” into which the world is seen as heading, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, can readily be understood as having its ideological basis in the callous principle of “profits before people for optimum shareholder-value”.

Our 21st century world of increasing gross inequality need not sound so “catastrophic”. Its origin lies in the historically dominant practice of large multinational pharmaceutical corporations delivering well-researched products, supposedly, to improve/save the plant, animal or human life.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 23 January 2021

Photo credit: Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), Cape Town

Time to Dispense with the Rhetoric of Decolonisation

Viewpoint by Themrise Khan*

KARACHI (IDN) – While preparing to speak at an online discussion on decolonising the aid sector, I searched Google Translate for a corresponding word for 'decolonisation’ in my native language of Urdu. I couldn’t find one. In many other languages, from Arabic to Spanish, only a loanword exists. It’s just one example of how the discussion on decolonisation rarely centres the colonised.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 18 January 2021

A Multidisciplinary Perspective of an Association of Five Major Emerging Economies

Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah *

MOSCOW (IDN) – The BRICS, an association of five major emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has a significant influence on regional affairs and is very active on the global stage. All of them are members of the G20. While the group has received both praise and criticism from different corners of the world, BRICS is steadily working towards realizing its set goals, bilateral relations among them are also conducted on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; OPINION; 12 October 2020

Image: Map of the Caribbean Sea and its islands. CC BY-SA 3.0

Caribbean Concerns Find Voice at 75th Anniversary of the UN

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The High-level Meeting to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations was held on September 21, 2020, with a view to adopting a political declaration on the theme: “The Future We Want, the United Nations We Need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.

The opening Plenary session observed the usual formalities of statements by the President of the General Assembly (GA) and by Presidents of the Security Council, Economic & Social Council and of the International Court of Justice.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; UN INSIDER; 30 September 2020

Photo: Signing ceremony for exchange of letters between UNOSSC and ACP Secretariat.

South-South Cooperation and Director Jorge Chediek: A Tribute

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The annual observance of UN Day for South-South Cooperation on September 12 was anticipated by a Virtual High-Level Event hosted by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSCC) on September 10, 2020.

The event, chaired by UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for South-South Cooperation and Director, UNOSCC, Mr. Jorge Chediek, was a further milestone of achievements by UNOSSC as it marked the launch of the Volume 3 publication on Good Practices in South-South & Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development. This Volume contains 200 good practices from 35 member states, 23 UN entities and other developing partners.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes; OPINION; 13 September 2020

Collage of pictures of classic Nigerian Jollof rice from Food 52 (left) and Unrest over the deportation of 723 Nigerians living in Ghana from African Liberty, March 6, 2019.

Food, President and Things We Don't Like About Ghana

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – Three years ago, it was a war spiced with condiments and paste over a dish of grain. Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed was answering a question by CNN’s Richard Quest about who makes the tastiest jollof rice in West Africa.

But Mohammed heard the question wrong. He thought Quest’s question was about the origin of jollof rice and answered Senegal. The minister had scarcely finished answering when social media began to steam over the mistaken answer that Senegalese jollof rice was tastier than Nigeria’s. The avatars treated it as nothing less than culinary high treason.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 September 2020

South-South Cooperation and TARA InfraPower's 600 MW Power-Project in Sri Lanka

By M. Niba *

LUCKNOW, India (IDN) – Private sector is playing a very important role to secure the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There is an inherent link between the SDGs and PPPs. The business enterprises contribute toward the development process not only through their competitive advantages but also via increased access to capital and incorporating innovation in their practices.

Indian companies have over the years built a competitive advantage in the delivery of highly cost-effective technological and business solutions and are renowned for their expertise across the globe.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 22 August 2020

Photo: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Credit: Olof von Gawinski, Flickr.

Africa's Largest Hydro Dam Held Hostage as Horn of Africa Countries Wage 'Water War'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Three neighbouring countries locked in a bitter dispute over rights to the precious waters of the Nile River may provide a preview of water wars around the world as global temperatures rise and droughts leave populations with insufficient water to drink or for farms.

The three countries – Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan – are all claiming rights to Africa’s most fabled river but Ethiopia has already laid claim to the water at the source and has begun siphoning it into a $4.5 billion hydroelectric dam to the dismay of Egypt which relies on the Nile for 90 percent of its water.

: THE WORLD; Africa; 20 July 2020

China-India Conflict a Potential Threat to Five-Nation BRICS

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Tension between China and India threatens to paralyse BRICS – the association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. While struggling to manage the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and India have locked horns over issues in their "bilateral relations", ranging from border security to trade conflicts and information war.