UNSG statement on South-South cooperation

 

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

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MESSAGE ON THE UNITED NATIONS DAY OF SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

12 September 2014

  

This year’s United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation comes as the international community is transitioning to a post-2015 development agenda centred on shared prosperity and environmental sustainability.

Despite remarkable advances in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, progress across the South has been uneven. Extreme poverty, rampant inequality, malnutrition and vulnerability to climate and weather-related shocks persist.

According to the UN Multidimensional Poverty Index, 2.2 billion people still live in abject poverty. About 1.4 billion people, the majority in the South, still have no reliable electricity, 900 million lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion do not have adequate sanitation.

In the face of this stark reality, South-South and triangular cooperation offer a path to balancing growth and equity in the context of a new Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

I encourage countries of the South and all development partners to come together to share, disseminate and scale up successful development solutions and technologies. This November’s Global South-South Development Expo in Washington, D.C. will provide one such important platform.

On this United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, let us reaffirm our commitment to pioneering South-South approaches that will ensure shared prosperity, sustainable development and a life of dignity for all.