Cairo Workshop: South-South Cooperation and the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda, Challenges and Opportunities
On 30 and 31 July 2018, the Government of Egypt hosted a round of preparatory consultations ahead of the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, taking place on the 40th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40) and focusing on the role of South-South cooperation and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The meeting was a very sincere, informative and a fruitful exchange, where various facets of South-South and triangular cooperation, its role in speeding up and scaling up further the quality of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were discussed, revealing the multitude of perspectives and points of views of the participating representatives of global development community.
In attendance were 57 representatives of national coordination agencies on South-South and triangular cooperation and institutional focal points of a number of international organizations and think tanks, including the UN Coordination Group on the Least Developed Countries, the OECD Development Centre and the South Centre.
Following the high-level opening by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, the participants shared their various paths through the challenges and opportunities in scaling up South-South cooperation for sustainable development, the practical aspects and examples of putting South-South and triangular cooperation to work, as well as the peculiarities of mobilizing global development partners in support of South-South and triangular cooperation.
The diversity of participants of the meeting, and the complexity of the issues at stake, ignited very constructive, extremely intensive, and cross-fertilizing deliberations during the first day of the consultations, which continued even outside the plenary hall. A working lunch featured a keynote speech from Mr. Jorge Chediek, the Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation and Director of the UNOSSC, where participants were offered a number of forward-looking insights on the role of South-South cooperation in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The consultations were continued on the second day, where participants had a chance to address the role of the United Nations in supporting the efforts of Member States and other stakeholders in furthering sustainable development through South-South and triangular cooperation, and charting the road ahead toward BAPA+40.
All in all, the importance of the momentum was recognized by the majority of participants where very high expectations were put on the upcoming BAPA+40 in addressing the constantly changing and critically challenging development horizon, and in further positioning South-South and triangular cooperation as one of the most efficient, flexible, and forward-looking cooperation models that is a complement to traditional forms of cooperation.