Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Distinguished Guests,

1. On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, I wish to reaffirm that South-South cooperation is a common endeavor of peoples and countries of the South, based on our common objectives and collective solidarity. This modality of cooperation is vital to our development efforts and requires the support of and resources from our development partners in the North and the UN system. It should never be regarded therefore as a replacement for the traditional North-South cooperation. Our development partners have an obligation, both in their own national interests, and in the interest of global harmony, equity, and development, to fulfill their commitments through North-South cooperation.

2. As stressed by the Twelfth Session of the Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination Committee on Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries (IFCC-12) held last June in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, South-South cooperation is a development agenda based on premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of our countries and to our needs and expectations. Therefore, it is up to us to promote and build on South-South cooperation at the bilateral, subregional, regional and inter-regional levels, including through triangular cooperation with the support of the UN system.

3. Given the increasing prominence that South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation will play in international relations, it is critical for us to ensure that there is clarity in the conceptual framework underlining South-South cooperation. In this regard, the essential elements of this conceptual framework should include the following three principles:     

Firstly: South-South cooperation must be pursued as an expression of South-South solidarity and a strategy for economic independence and self-reliance of the South and its agenda must be driven by the countries of the South.

Secondly: South-South cooperation must not be seen as a replacement for North-South cooperation. Strengthening South-South cooperation must not be perceived as a measure of coping with the receding interest of the developed world in assisting developing countries. Therefore, cooperation between countries of the South must not be analyzed and evaluated using the same standards as those used for North-South relations.

Thirdly:   Financial contributions from other developing countries cannot and should not be seen as Official Development Assistance from these countries to other countries of the South. These are merely expressions of solidarity and cooperation borne out of shared experiences and sympathies.

4. Furthermore, the Development Platform for the South, which was launched on the occasion of IFCC-12, reaffirmed the importance of South-South cooperation for developing countries and listed a number of urgent, critical, and action-oriented measures that need to be taken in order to boost South-South cooperation with the support of our development partners.

5. In conclusion, we believe that strong partnership among developing countries, supported by our development partners, will help to implement South-South initiatives that will benefit the entire international community. Therefore, we call on our development partners to translate the new dynamism of the South into a force for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. In this context, we also call on the UN system, international financial institutions and regional organizations to increase their financial support in order to harness the benefits of such cooperation and improve the livelihoods of the populations of the South.