South-South cooperation can help solve ‘complex development context’

Speaking to UN News ahead of the International Day of South-South Cooperation, Dima al-Khatib, Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, explained the transformative power of solidarity among developing countries.

 UN News: Why is South-South cooperation so important?  

Dima al-Khatib: Nowadays the countries of the South are grappling with a multitude of complex development issues. These were exacerbated, of course, in the recent years by the pandemic and its aftermath.  

Countries are also grappling with the implications of the multiple crises that are happening in the world today, whether they be geopolitical, food-related, education-related or economic. It is quite a complex development context.   

It’s a context where the development issues at hand require collaboration among countries. 

When we talk about climate, for instance, we don’t talk about one country. Climate, water management, natural disasters know no geographic boundaries. Peace and development is also something that has a spill over. 

So, if countries do not cooperate with each other in order to be able to address and mitigate and adapt to those different complexities, it is a lost opportunity. 

UN News: What are some examples of how countries of the global South can work together to support one another?  

Dima al-Khatib: I am from Lebanon and I want to give an example of a regional initiative that is led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which aims at fighting corruption. This initiative has resulted in technical assistance for individual countries to have strategies to fight corruption. It succeeded in creating a network of policymakers from all the countries of the region who meet regularly to address how they can learn from each other from a policy perspective to legal aspects and to taking specific cases. These networks have been extremely successful. 

 UN News: How common are examples of cooperation across more than several countries? 

Dima al-Khatib: One important project funded by the India-UN Partnership focuses on energy transition. It’s a multi-country project involving 10 countries which are all supported by the Solar Alliance. It is helping countries not only to learn from each other, but also to make sure that whatever results from these initiatives is very much linked to the national development priorities and plans of the respective countries. So, it has a national dimension and a regional one.  

UN News: Does cooperation across continents work? 

 Dima al-Khatib: I love this example because I saw it firsthand when I visited China not long ago. We have a partnership with China through an initiative for the digital management of transport in cities.  

This is a fantastic example of collaboration between the locality of Hang Xue and Santiago in Chile in terms of learning how to manage transport in big cities, alleviate traffic jams, ensure citizen comfort and reduce pollution using digital technologies.  

There are so many examples whereby one can sense the growing impact of this.  

UN News: What role do young people play in South-South cooperation?  

Dima al-Khatib: If you look at the population’s composition of the countries of the South, the majority are young.  

They are the agents of change and for us they are very important. We are already working with UNESCO in a beautiful initiative to connect universities among the countries of the South. 

This is very important because it not only elevates the space for a greener education, but it is creating a network of connectivity among the youth in universities. 

That’s something that can easily be scaled up across many other universities. For me, scalability and sustainability are the most important elements in how we can take this forward. 

UN News: What is the connection between South-South cooperation and the forthcoming Summit of the Future?  

Dima al-Khatib: The Summit of the Future is a critical moment because we have five years ahead of us for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and we are way behind. Only 17 per cent are on track. 

This is an opportunity to renew our commitment to this agenda of South-South cooperation but to also renew the commitment of using this modality for addressing those extremely complex development issues that the countries are grappling with, including debt distress, climate change and health resilience. 

I believe a lot of countries of the South have put forward a lot of solutions and are waiting to move forward with the support of other countries.