IBSA Focal Points and UNOSSC Advance a Strategic Review of the IBSA Fund

19 September 2017, New York – The India-Brazil-and-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum Focal Points and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to take stock on the successes of the IBSA Fund, analyses challenges and plan the next phase of the fund.

“The IBSA Fund is the pride of IBSA. It is one of those flagship initiatives that has organically really grown.” – affirmed H.E. Mr. Anil Sooklal, Deputy-Director General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and South Africa’s IBSA Focal Point.

“The IBSA Fund is a living tribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), its rich portfolio shows the many activities we have done advancing the SDGs implementation and begs the questions: how do we expand the framework of what we are doing?” – complemented H.E. Alok A. Dimri, Joint Secretary for Multilateral Economic Relations, and India’s IBSA Focal Point.

“Brazil is committed to bringing new dynamism to IBSA, including enriching the IBSA Fund with academic and scholarly inputs and a series of forums that provide greater visibility to this fantastic initiative” – explained H.E. Minister Kenneth Haczynski da Nóbrega, Brazil’s IBSA Focal Point.

The meeting comes at a highly opportune time to reflect on the IBSA Fund’s achievements as well as chart the road ahead. As many nations increasingly challenge the multilateral system and representative global governance institutions, IBSA, as an alliance between three leading democratic, multi-ethnic, multicultural states from three different continents has inspired an enormous amount of praise, in particular the IBSA Fund in its commitment to work through the United Nations system.

To date, the IBSA Fund has received $35 million in contributions to implement 27 projects in 21 partner countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab States. The fund projects range from enhancing livelihoods, to improving health care infrastructure, to extending access to safe drinking water.

“The IBSA Fund has established itself as a successful model of South-South cooperation. It benefits from much public recognition, legitimacy, and praise for its practical and impactful South-South approach. The IBSA Fund is an initiative much worth scaling-up, and which UNOSSC will gladly support in this endeavor.” — asserted Mr. Jorge Chediek, Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation and Director of UNOSSC.