UN Secretary-General issues Message on South-South Cooperation Day
Countries in the global South are taking on a larger role in the global development landscape.
On September 12, commemorating the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a message stating: In 2013, the international community will intensify its efforts to accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by the end of 2015. This is also the internationally recognized deadline. At the same time, countries in the Southern Hemisphere are taking on a larger role in the global development context.
In many developing countries, incomes have increased, poverty has fallen and the future is brighter. The goal of halving extreme poverty has been achieved. Equal primary education, namely equal attendance rates for boys and girls, has been achieved. Infant mortality has also fallen dramatically, with under-five mortality halved in five out of nine developing countries; more than two billion people worldwide have access to clean water.
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The UN Secretary-General stressed that 1.2 billion people still live in extreme poverty. Extensive global discussions are underway to define a post-2015 development agenda that will guide development efforts at all levels in the coming years and decades. When the agenda was formulated, the international community was united around the idea that South-South cooperation would remain a key part of the global partnership for development.
South-South cooperation offers concrete solutions to common global development challenges; sharing best practices, funding pilot projects in remote locations, providing funding for the expansion of successful projects, providing public goods, and developing and applying appropriate technologies. These are opportunities that the international community should make better use of.
On this occasion, Mr. Ban Ki-moon called on all relevant parties to redouble their efforts to exploit and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge, expertise and development thinking of countries in the Southern hemisphere./.
According to VOV - DT
