Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

1. The celebration of a UN day for South-South cooperation gives us an annual rallying point to reflect on its increasing importance and raise the awareness of the international community on its continued relevance. South-South cooperation is a growing phenomenon that is vital to address the challenges faced by the developing countries. Today is an occasion to reaffirm the continued relevance of South-South cooperation to build a more equitable global partnership for development and peace, in accordance with the provisions of the outcome document of the recently held UN Conference on South-South Cooperation in Nairobi, 1-3 December 2009.

2. As we are all aware, South-South cooperation is an expression of South-South solidarity that had proven its relevance by a rapid growth. It is a rising and dynamic phenomenon, an important process that is vital to confront the challenges faced by the developing countries, making an increasingly important contribution to their development. In the light of the processes of globalization and deepening interdependence among economies, the intensification of South-South cooperation has become a major imperative both as a development strategy and as a means for ensuring that developing countries participate fully in international economic relations, which is a key objective of the United Nations.

3. In this context, I wish to recall that the Thirty-third Annual Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Group of 77 held in New York on 25 September 2009, reiterated the "Yamoussoukro Consensus on South-South Cooperation" and stressed that South-South Cooperation should be based on the following principles:

a. South-South cooperation is a common endeavour of peoples and countries of the South and must be pursued as an expression of South-South solidarity and a strategy for economic independence and self-reliance of the South based on their common objectives and solidarity;

b. South-South cooperation and its agenda must be driven by the countries of the South;

c. South-South cooperation must not be seen as a replacement for North-   South cooperation. Strengthening South-South cooperation must not be a measure of coping with the receding interest of the developed world in assisting developing countries;

d. Cooperation between countries of the South must not be analyzed and evaluated using the same standards as those used for North-South relations;

e. Financial contributions from other developing countries should not be seen as Official Development Assistance from these countries to other countries of the South. These are merely expressions of solidarity and cooperation borne out of shared experiences and sympathies;

f. South-South cooperation is a development agenda based on premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of developing countries and to their needs and expectations. South-South cooperation deserves its own separate and independent promotion;

g. South-South cooperation is based on a strong, genuine, broad-based partnership and solidarity;

h. South-South cooperation is based on complete equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit;

i. South-South cooperation respects national sovereignty in the context of shared responsibility;

j. South-South cooperation strives for strengthened multilateralism in the promotion of an action-oriented approach to development challenges;

k. South-South cooperation promotes the exchange of best practices and support among developing countries in the common pursuit of their broad development objectives (encompassing all aspects of international relations and not just in the traditional economic and technical areas);

l. South-South cooperation is based on the collective self-reliance of developing countries;

m. South-South cooperation seeks to enable developing countries to play a more active role in international policy and decision-making processes, in support of their efforts to achieve sustainable development;

n. The modalities and mechanisms for promoting South-South cooperation are based on bilateral, sub-regional, regional and interregional cooperation and integration as well as multilateral cooperation.

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

4. Our Group has reaffirmed this position on South-South Cooperation at the recently held UN High-Level Conference on South-South Cooperation in Nairobi, Kenya (1 - 3 December 2009). We have also reiterated the importance of the solidarity dimension of South-South Cooperation. The efforts of developing countries to promote and implement South-South cooperation should not be regarded as a substitute for traditional cooperation with our developed partners. The premises are different, the conditions are different, and the expectations are different and must be accordingly reflected.

5. In this context, South-South and triangular cooperation must be strengthened in various areas. We support especially the public-private partnership arrangements in its ability to expand South-South cooperation. We are encouraged with the concept of bringing together developing countries and development partners, including donor agencies, UN systems organizations, private sector and civil society organizations to demonstrate South-South development solutions. We do hope that such sharing of experiences will spark new opportunities for partnerships and contribute to poverty eradication and economic growth.

6. We are confident that triangular cooperation arrangements as an innovative mode of cooperation will play an increasing catalytically role in South-South cooperation by bringing together developing countries and donors in specific cooperation programmes, using available expertise of other developing countries and developed countries financial assistance. This approach would promote a better association with our partners in developed countries through concrete, attractive and result-based programmes.

7. We believe that strong partnership among developing countries supported by our development partners will help to implement South-South initiatives that will benefit the entire international community. Therefore, we call on our development partners to translate the new dynamism of the South into a force for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. In this context, we also call on the UN system, the international financial institutions and regional organizations to increase their financial support in order to harness the benefits of such cooperation and facilitate the integration of the developing countries in the global economy.

8. In conclusion, we believe that the Third South Summit to be held in Africa in 2010 will provide an excellent opportunity to the developing countries to assess the progress made in South-South cooperation. The Summit would also elaborate important measures for further implementation of South-South cooperation including triangular cooperation, as well as tackle the new challenges raised by emerging issues.

9. I wish all success to your deliberations.

Thank you.