“China provides example, experiences and hope” UNOSSC Director said
A multimedia report on China’s contribution to the South-South Cooperation supported by the UNOSSC premiered at the “SDGs on Belt and Road” Phoenix TV’s Partners Conference at Phoenix International Media Center in Beijing, China on 24 April 2019.
The report, entitled “China’s Contribution to South-South Cooperation: Cases and Implementations”, in both English and Chinese, showcases the successful stories of cooperation between China and other developing countries and demonstrates, among other things, the positive impact brought about by such South-South cooperation to those countries’ economic and social development. According to the report, the importance of South-South and triangular cooperation in accelerating sustainable development has gained continued momentum over the last decades.
UNOSSC played an important advisory role in the making of this report. For instance, the three successful hydropower projects completed by the International Centre on Small Hydro Power were selected with the aid of the coordination and consulting services provided by UNOSSC’s HQ and its Silk Road Cities Project Office in Beijing.
UNOSSC Director and Envoy of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation Mr. Jorge Chediek gave a keynote speech at the commencement of the event where he recognized the importance of upscaling South-South and triangular cooperation. “Last month, we had a big conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina at which all the nations agreed on the importance of expanding the South-South and triangular cooperation to achieve the 2030 Global Agenda.” Mr. Chediek said, “at that event, we agree to expand South-South and triangular cooperation to engage more actors, including the private sector, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations.”
Mr. Chediek also drew the audience’s attention to China’s experience in supporting South-South and triangular cooperation. He said, “the example of China becoming one of the biggest and most extraordinary scale of growth and reduction of poverty of human kind since the reform and opening up in 1979 provides example, experiences and hope that developing countries can achieve that level of sustainable development.”
The launch ceremony was followed by a panel session aiming to present multi-stakeholder perspectives on China’s participation and contribution to South-South and triangular cooperation for sustainable development.
Ms. Wang Xiaojun, Deputy Director of the UNOSSC, engaged in the dialogue with Ms. Wang Li, Director of CCPIT Training Center, Mr. Wang Xingzui, Vice President of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, Ms. Xu Jin, Assistant Dean of China Institute for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture, and Mr. Wang Bing, Representative of an alternative development enterprise in Myanmar.
Notably, Ms. Wang defined South-South and triangular cooperation as an initiative that builds “bridges” instead of “walls”. South-South and triangular cooperation helps establish partnership between countries by providing a platform that connects multi-stakeholders instead of segregating or isolating them with barriers of any sort.
Furthermore, Ms. Wang presented three methodologies of facilitating the sharing and dissemination of South-South cooperation knowledge: engaging global thinkers, theoretical studies of empirical knowledge, and harnessing digital platform to disseminate knowledge. In this context, Ms. Wang appreciated Phoenix TV for displaying the introduction video of South-South Galaxy before the launch of the report.
South-South Galaxy is an online global knowledge sharing and partnership brokering platform, initiated by UNOSSC in partnership with multiple UN agencies and entities. It aims to support developing countries to connect, learn and collaborate in a more effective manner. Southern partners will be able to access and navigate a broad range of knowledge, solutions, cutting-edge research, capacity building initiatives and partners. It will also serve as a partnership brokering platform, providing an opportunity for users to foster partnerships, make connections and take part in solutions exchanges. The platform will also provide access to funding and financing mechanisms to assist Southern governments and development partners to deliver successful results on South-South and triangular cooperation projects.
Phoenix TV’s Partners Conference provides opportunities to connect with government agencies and the leading organizations in the field of economic development, as well as research institutes, academics, enterprises and media. In his speech, Mr. Chediek appreciated Phoenix TV’s support and professional coverages to several of UNOSSC Events and Initiatives including the BAPA+40 and the Global South-South Development Expo 2017 and 2018.
