25 January 2016

¡°The New Development Bank of the BRICS and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are examples of major new initiatives being driven by emerging economies,¡± said Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP Administrator Helen Clark in her address to the First Regular Session of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP Executive Board Monday.

The Executive Board has been briefed on the near final draft of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP¡¯s strategy on South-South and triangular cooperation, Ms. Clark said, stressing that Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP is grateful to the many Member States that have engaged with us on the development of the strategy.

In implementing the strategy, ¡°Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP will work in close partnership with the United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation (Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOSSC),¡± Ms. Clark said.

The delegation of China welcomed the increase of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP support to South-South and triangular cooperation, and encouraged the Programme, as the institutional host of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµOSSC, to provide additional ¡°financial, personnel and policy backing¡± to the work of the Office.

In response to Member States demand to improve coordination of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ system support to South-South cooperation, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP is providing financial and technical support to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDG Task Team on South-South and Triangular Cooperation to map good practices and lessons learned. When finalized, these good practices are to be shared with Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Resident Coordinators and Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Country Teams that work with Governments to enhance South-South approaches at the country level. Best practices will also be shared with Member States during the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation in May 2016.

The delegation of Ecuador, speaking on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), noted the critical importance of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP in the field of South-South cooperation. ¡°South-South cooperation is an expanding and dynamic cooperation modality, and a vital complement to confront the development challenges faced by developing countries in the Agenda for Sustainable Development context,¡± the delegations expressed in a statement.

The delegation of Bangladesh called on Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP to strengthen South-South cooperation toward accelerating implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 (IPoA).

Finally, many delegations associated themselves with the call of the Group of 77 and China for Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP to revise the timeframe proposed for consultations on its draft South-South and triangular cooperation strategy in order to allow for the necessary deliberations of Member States, in particular developing countries who are the drivers of South-South and triangular cooperation.

In response, the Administrator said that discussions will continue, meanwhile Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP would continue to be actively engaged in South-South cooperation for development.

Statement of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµDP Administrator Helen Clark:

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