Mr. President of the High-Level Committee,
Mr. President of the General Assembly,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1 - This Ninth United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation is an opportune occasion to acknowledge the remarkable progress made in many corners of the South. The celebration of the UN Day for South-South Cooperation on 12 September, for the first time, gives us an annual rallying point to reflect on its increasing importance and raise the awareness of the international community on its continued relevance. South-South cooperation is a growing phenomenon that is vital to address the challenges faced by the developing countries. Today is an occasion to reaffirm the continued relevance of South-South cooperation.

2 - The conceptual framework of South-South cooperation is distinct from the traditional notion of development cooperation with a welfare approach and must not be analyzed and evaluated using the same standards as those used for North-South relations. South-South cooperation, stripped of conditionalities, seeks to meet the developmental needs of each developing country based on a strong, genuine, broad-based partnership and solidarity.

3 - As we are all aware, South-South cooperation is an expression of South-South solidarity that had proven its relevance by a rapid growth. It is a rising and dynamic phenomenon, an important process that is vital to confront the challenges faced by the developing countries, making an increasingly important contribution to their development. In the light of the processes of globalization and deepening interdependence among economies, the intensification of South-South cooperation has become a major imperative both as a development strategy and as a means for ensuring that developing countries participate fully in international economic relations, which is a key objective of the United Nations.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

4 - Our Group has reaffirmed this position on South-South cooperation at the UN High-Level Committee Meeting on South-South Cooperation held in New York recently. We have also reiterated the importance of the solidarity dimension of South-South cooperation. The efforts of developing countries to promote and implement South-South cooperation should not be regarded as a substitute for traditional cooperation with our developed partners. The premises are different, the conditions are different, and the expectations are different and must be accordingly reflected.

5 - 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 intentional 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, the international financial institutions and regional organizations to increase their financial support in order to harness the benefits of such cooperation and facilitate the integration of the developing countries in the global economy.

6 - Today, we are very pleased to acknowledge that on this Ninth United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation has renamed the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation as the new "United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation". This is indeed a timely action which underscores the need to intensify support for South-South and triangular cooperation in efforts to address the multiple development challenges of our time.

Thank you.