International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Luwellyn Landers is expected to participate in the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South cooperation (BAPA+40) in Buenos Aires, in Argentina, later this week.
From 20 to 22 March, Landers will lead the South African delegation to the upcoming High-Level Conference, under the theme “Role of South-South Cooperation and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: challenges and opportunities”.
“The High-Level Conference will build on the historical foundations of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) that emanated from the first UN Conference on the Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC), which was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1978,” the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.
The conference is expected to reflect and further build on the Nairobi outcome document of the High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation that was adopted in 2009, which pronounced on the global understanding of this modality of cooperation.
“Marking the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the BAPA, the United Nations General Assembly mandated the UN to convene a Second High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South cooperation (BAPA+40),” the Department said in a statement.
“South-South Cooperation is one of the foundational pillars of South Africa’s foreign policy. In this regard, the country continues to play a leading role in the sub-region, the African region and the broader global South. South Africa’s active participation in SADC, African Union, the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA), Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa (BRICS) initiatives demonstrates in no uncertain terms this global commitment.”
Since the adoption of BAPA among developing countries in 1978, South-South cooperation has intensified significantly and increasingly engaged national and international players, fostering regional integration and strengthening its contribution to sustainable development in its social, economic and environmental dimensions
“South-South Cooperation is increasingly critical to bolstering the productive capacities of developing countries and has positive impacts on trade and financial flows, technological capabilities and economic growth, and reiterating the importance of the global partnership for sustainable development,” the department said.
Recently South-South cooperation has gained greater attention on the international agenda in several key outcomes of the United Nations.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted in 2015, highlights under Goal 17 the importance of South-South Cooperation as a complement to global efforts on development, in particular North-South Cooperation. In this regard, South Africa will emphasise that South-South Cooperation as the modality of the countries from the global South, which should inform the approach on triangular cooperation, which plays a complementary role to the former.
Deputy Minister Landers will also on the margins of the conference engage in bilateral discussions with a number of high level representatives, the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
