HIGH-LEVEL COMMITTEE ON REVIEW OF TECHNICAL COOPERATION AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CONCLUDES ELEVENTH SESSION
Press Release
DEV/2214
HIGH-LEVEL COMMITTEE ON REVIEW OF TECHNICAL COOPERATION AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES CONCLUDES ELEVENTH SESSION
19990604 South-South Cooperation Should Be Viewed as Complement Not Substitute For North-South Cooperation, Committee Stresses by One of Four Texts AdoptedSouth-South cooperation should be viewed as a complement and not a substitute for North-South cooperation, the High-level Committee on the Review of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) reiterated this afternoon as it took action on one of four draft decisions, adopted without a vote, at the conclusion of its eleventh session.
By that draft, on an overall framework for promoting and applying TCDC, the High-level Committee also emphasized the need to promote triangular approaches to facilitate South-South programmes and projects. It also reiterated the recommendations contained in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action that TCDC projects should give priority to the use of local capabilities and expertise, and, where not available, to the use of technical resources from other developing countries.
In a two-part draft, the Committee reaffirmed the great potential of TCDC, which had gained widespread acceptance as an innovative and effective instrument of technical cooperation. It stressed that South-South cooperation constituted an important element of international cooperation for development and an essential basis for national and collective self-reliance, as well as a means of ensuring the effective integration and participation of developing countries in the world economy.
The Committee also adopted two other drafts, the first containing its report on the eleventh session and the second relating to the provisional agenda for its twelfth biennial session.
During this afternoon's meeting, the Committee heard closing statements by its President and by the Director of the Special Unit for TCDC on behalf of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Action by High-level Committee
The Committee first took up a two-part draft decision on review of progress (document TCDC/11/L.4).
Adopting without a vote Part A of the report, on review of progress in implementing the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and the decisions of the High- level Committee, and of the recommendations of the South Commission report, the Committee stressed the need for further efforts to be made by the United Nations organizations and agencies, including the regional commissions, to increasingly integrate TCDC into their programmes, policies and procedures. It called upon the international community to increase financial resources for South-South cooperation and urged international organizations and donor countries, in the context of triangular arrangement and the increased use of the TCDC modality, to increase financial support for TCDC activities.
Adopting Part B of the draft, on review of progress in implementing the new directions strategy, also without a vote, the Committee stressed the need to mobilize additional financial resources from all sources to assist the Special Unit for TCDC in implementing and operationalizing the new directions strategy, particularly for ensuring participation of developing countries in the newly emerging global economic system. By the draft, the High-level Committee requested that the Special Unit present, at the Committee's next session, a detailed report on the management and use of the Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation, as well as to document and disseminate successful triangular cooperation arrangements to encourage greater use of that modality in development cooperation programmes. The Committee urged all organizations and agencies of the United Nations development system to ensure effective integration of the TCDC modalities in their regular programmes and activities.
The High-level Committee then took up and adopted, without a vote, a draft on an overall framework for promoting and applying TCDC (document TCDC/11/L.5). By that draft, the Committee stressed that South-South cooperation, including technical and economic cooperation among developing countries, offered viable opportunities for development. It also recalled General Assembly resolution 53/192, which requested the executive boards of the United Nations funds and programmes to review the allocation of resources for TCDC activities with a view towardS increases.
The Committee then turned to an adopted, without a vote, a draft decision containing its report on the eleventh session, comprising a summary of the reports on implementation (document TCDC/11/L.6); a summary of the general debate (document TCDC/11/L.6/Add.1); and a summary of the thematic discussions (document TCDC/11/L.6/Add.2).
Finally, the Committee adopted, without a vote and as orally amended, its provisional agenda for the twelfth biennial session (document TCDC/11/L.7).
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Statements
JOHN OHIORHENUAN, Director of the Special Unit for TCDC, speaking on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, said that for TCDC the 1970s had been a period of conceptualization and the 1980s a period of mobilization. The 1990s had been a period of transformation. Countries were not merely participating in TCDC, but were managing and financing it. Simple activities had turned into more sophisticated forms. Bilateral activities had turned into more broad-based regional and interregional arrangements. Public- sector activities had changed to private, purely South-South interactions into triangular cooperation, and ad hoc arrangements to more deliberate and sustainable arrangements. Those emerging trends attested to the continued validity and fundamental relevance of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and the new directions strategy on TCDC.
The message from the Committee was clear, he continued. South-South cooperation was on the rise and its potential benefits could be enormous when all partners in the development effort joined hands and pooled resources. As speakers had emphasized in the plenary: TCDC was an enterprise of the South for the South with the support of all.
The message had been heard, he added. Speakers had called for intensified efforts in providing platforms for South-South policy dialogue on sustainable development and global economic integration. They had called for redoubled efforts to implement plans of action among the South and the commitments of global conferences. Also called for were the development of methodologies and innovative mechanisms for result-oriented TCDC programmes; the full operationalization of TCDC/economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC) modalities; and stronger support for TCDC among all countries.
To bring South-South cooperation and TCDC/ECDC to a higher, more robust level in the new millennium, he suggested four fundamentals for consideration. Mutual respect was the basic principle; diversity and inclusiveness were the sources of strength; the added value of TCDC and complementarity of approaches were the keys to success; and sustainable global human development was the primary objective.
PATRICIA DURRANT (Jamaica), President of the High-level Committee, said in her closing statement the successful conclusion of the Committee's work was due to the constructive cooperation and to the friendly and sincere understanding that had guided all delegations. The Committee's mandate had been a simple but ample one: to make recommendations on measures for implementing the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and to monitor all TCDC activities of the United Nations system.
She said the session had been the first meeting of the Committee since the implementation of the revised guidelines for the review of policies and procedures concerning TCDC. The review had addressed all aspects of the
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guidelines -- overall policy, financing, data and information, training, focal points, the Special Unit, networking, procedures and reporting. The Committee had considered the recommendations of the new directions strategy for TCDC, focusing on such high-priority areas as trade and investment, debt, poverty alleviation, product and employment, the environment, macroeconomic policy coordination and aid management, all of which had a major development impact on developing countries.
In its decisions, she said, the Committee had reaffirmed the validity of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, offering as it did viable opportunities for improving the socio-economic development of developing countries, and for enabling them further participation and integration in the global economy. The Committee had been able to point to an increase in TCDC activities in bilateral cooperation among developing countries and the expression of triangular cooperation and of support from developed countries, either directly or through the United Nations system. The Committee had also noted the success in mainstreaming the TCDC modality in the development programmes of the United Nations system while recognizing that more remained to be done.
GEORGE WILFRED TALBOT (Guyana), on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, expressed appreciation to the Chairman of the Working Group and to the other members of the High-level Committee.
KLAUS-DIETER STEIN (Germany), on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said it was gratifying that agreement had been reached in a spirit of cooperation.
Round-Up of Session
The thematic, interactive format of the eleventh session, which began on 1 June, was part of TCDC's new directions strategy, established in 1995 by General Assembly resolution 50/119, which called for a sharpened thrust to TCDC activities. Innovations in the format for the session included an organizational meeting held on 4 May, during which the theme was chosen and officers were elected.
Other innovations in the format of the eleventh session included exchanges of views between representatives and the Director of the Special Unit of the UNDP, John Ohiorhenuan, as well as the presentation of four case studies related to the session's theme. The four case studies included: collaboration among small- and medium-scale enterprises in stimulating growth and reducing poverty in developing countries; promoting trade and investments in the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) region; reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on development prospects; and cooperation among small-island developing States in the South Pacific in the area of marine biodiversity.
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Among the highlights of the general debate was the statement by the Permanent Representative of Guyana, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, who made it clear that the primary responsibility for promoting TCDC and ECDC lay with the developing countries and that they must maximize the prospects of their individual and collective development. Increased differentiation, far from undermining effective cooperation among the Group of 77 countries, was strengthening their cooperation and self-reliance. They remained united by a common sense of deprivation and exclusion from the benefits of the international economic system.
Speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, the Permanent Representative of Germany said that the best way to realize TCDC's potential and maximize its impact was to make it an integral part of national and international strategies. South-South cooperation through TCDC/ECDC would accelerate national economic growth in the developing countries and their active participation in economic globalization. The central target of all technical cooperation was to enhance national potential and capacities.
Delegations across the board expressed renewed concern regarding declining voluntary contributions to development and decreasing official development assistance. Technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC) and ECDC alone would not fill the void and steps would be needed to re- establish commitment to development cooperation.
Some delegations referred to the recent financial and economic crisis in Asia and elsewhere, underscoring the need for measures targeting greater self- reliance of the developing countries. Great emphasis was placed on developing technical and scientific competence in developing countries, especially in frontier areas of technology.
Attention was drawn by some delegates to the special problems of small island developing States and landlocked countries, which were usually among the least developed. They were being marginalized in the process of globalization and economic integration.
During the thematic discussions summarizing four case studies on the theme of "The Role of TCDC in accelerating growth and equitable development through broad-based partnerships", the keynote address was delivered by Sir Shridath Ramphal, Chief Negotiator of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for international economic negotiations with Europe and the Americas. Sir Shridath recalled the formative years of TCDC -- beginning in 1972 -- and provided compelling reasons why the South needed to act together with commitment to reach collective positions in its negotiations with the North. He made a forceful case for South-South cooperation by saying that the South needed economic space in the coming century.
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The case studies detailed: a collaboration among small- and medium- scale enterprises in stimulating growth and reducing poverty in developing countries, presenting the Indian experience in promoting TCDC; promoting trade and investments in the MERCOSUR region; a Ugandan perspective on reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS on development prospects; and cooperation in the area of marine biodiversity among small island developing States in the South Pacific region.
The High-level Committee's role is to make recommendations on measures for implementing the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and to monitor all TCDC activities of the United Nations system. The application of TCDC is considered to be primarily the responsibility of developing countries, with the United Nations development system acting as facilitator and catalyst. All United Nations Member States and specialized agencies are represented in the High-level Committee, while representatives of United Nations intergovernmental and non- governmental organizations attend as observers.
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