Envoy of Secretary-General Delivers Lecture at Peking University

The last stop of Envoy of Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation Jorge Chediek’s China visit is Peking University.

Mr. Chediek delivered a lecture on South-South cooperation at the Institute for South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD). This was the inaugural lecture of the “South-South Cooperation and United Nations Chair” series.  More than 50 students of the ISSCAD, officials from developing countries, joined the lecture. Professor Yang Yao moderated the lecture. Professor Justin Yifu Lin was the commentator during the lecture.

In his lecture, Mr. Chediek reviewed the history, evolution and milestones of South-South cooperation, from the 1955 Bandung Conference of 29 of Asian and African states representing more than half the world’s population – during which the guiding principles of South-South cooperation were first raised by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai – to the 1978 Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (BAPA), followed by the 2001 Doha Declaration and the 2010 Nairobi Outcome Document.

Mr. Chediek then shared his views on today’s major South-South cooperation initiatives including new multilateral financial institutions and the “Belt and Road Initiative”, and his personal experience, being a Resident Coordinator for 15 years, witnessing South-South cooperation in action on the ground.

Two MOUs were signed after the lecture. One with the Institute for New Structural Economics (INSE) and one with ISSCAD.

Mr. Chediek commended INSE and ISSCAD for leveraging South-South cooperation in their work, under the leadership of Prof Justin Lin, Professor Yang Yao, and Professor Jun Fu. He pointed out that UNOSSC and the two institutes share a similar nature and ideals.  He congratulated the INSE for the progress in expanding the network of GReCEST as members of the “South-South Global Thinkers Initiative”. He also acknowledged the important mandate of ISSCAD and looked forward to collaborating with the Institute.

Under the new collaboration framework, UNOSSC and INSE have agreed to collaborate in strengthening the Global Research Consortium on Economic Structural Transformation (GReCEST) and the Global Coalition of Think Tank Networks for South-South Cooperation (the South-South Global Thinkers initiative); engage in knowledge generation and sharing; develop and deliver training; and organize forums.

UNOSSC also entered into a new partnership with the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) which was announced by President Xi Jinping on September 26, 2015 during the High-level Roundtable on South-South Cooperation.

ISSCAD offers high-level degree and non-degree programmes focused on national development. Students are drawn from governments, academia, media, NGOs and other organizations – with a focus on students from developing countries.

Under this partnership framework, UNOSSC and ISSCAD agree to collaborate in promoting youth leadership and capacity development through South-South cooperation; developing and organizing courses, lectures, trainings, personnel exchanges and symposiums on South-South cooperation; conducting joint research; and supporting the establishment of “South-South Cooperation and United Nations Chairs” at Peking University and other academic institutions globally to promote frontier thinking on South-South cooperation, and provide opportunities for members of the parties to share their expertise.

Article by Dingding Sun (UNOSSC Programme Coordination Specialist, dingding.sun@unossc.org)