South-South Cooperation

The rise of south-south cooperation has added a new perspective in the changing nature of world trade. The emergence of China, India, Brazil and South Africa can result in a changed global industrial setting which could ultimately help to solve the global problem of poverty. The role of South-South cooperation in linking industrial development, the expansion of trade and poverty reduction is not a new subject in international dialog today. ‘In Latin America and the Caribbean, South-South cooperation is a very important mechanism not only to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, but also for a regional development agenda concerned with social inequality and weak institutions, as well as with the fight against poverty’ reports FRIDE, an European think tank for global action. The Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, held in Brussels in May 2001, emphasized the importance of South-South cooperation in capacity-building and setting best practices, particularly in the areas of health, education, training, environment, science and technology, trade, investment and transit transport cooperation.