Seventh Global United Nations South-South Development Expo Opens in Washington, DC
Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 18, 2014 -- The seventh annual week-long United Nations South-South Development Expo got off to strong start at the impressive marble building of the Organization for American States yesterday in the shadow of the Washington Monument. The 2014 GSSD Expo began with a High-level opening ceremony featuring distinguished and powerful champions of South-South cooperation.
Leaders of international organizations and leading countries on the issue of development cooperation are participating all this week in the Global South-South Development Expo hosted this year by the Organization of American States (OAS) and co-organized with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC).
“South” refers to developing countries while “North” refers to the industrialized developed countries. “Triangular cooperation” refers to development cooperation where funding and expertise comes from the North, and then is replicated and upscaled across the South. “South-South” refers to development assistance where developing countries apply their resources and expertise to support other developing countries.
Gina Casar, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP, said south-south and triangular cooperation offer a path to balancing growth and equity in the context of a “new collaborative global partnership for sustainable development” where all stakeholders stand shoulder to shoulder in their political, social and environmental development efforts.
The OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, participated in the opening ceremony and noted that his organization works to support the efforts of its member states in achieving sustainable and inclusive economic, human and social development. In the area of sustainable development the OAS “is known for the effective collaborative networks and communities of practice that have taken south-south cooperation to a new level and positioned the OAS as a solutions multiplier.”
The President of the UN High Level Committee on South-South Cooperation , Abulkalam Abdul Momen of Bangladesh, told the delegates in the crowded and hallowed Hall of the Americas that the strong economic performance of many countries of the South in recent years are improving the human condition everywhere. To further accelerate this progress, he highlighted a new “pioneering” Fund – the UN Social Enterprise Facility for the South that will pool official development assistance together with equity funds and will initially support social enterprises in Asia.
“This facility has attracted interest from commercial banks, venture philanthropists and hedge fund managers specializing in socially responsible investment funds,” he said.
Yiping Zhou , envoy of the UN Secretary General and Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation said the annual Global UN South-South Development Expo is proving effective in bringing together development organizations from all sectors to establish inclusive and innovative partnerships, south-south, north-south, triangular and public/private so that the impact of successful development solutions can be scaled up.
“The collaboration of more than 25 organizations of the UN system at this Expo clearly demonstrates the strong commitment of the UN family the the Secretary-General’s call for ‘delivering as One’ in the area of south-south and triangular cooperation,” he said in his opening remarks.
Since its inception in 2008, the GSSD Expo has featured documented best practices from hundreds of partner countries, UN agencies, private-sector enterprises and civil-society organizations. To effectively build on this broad global partnership, the eight thematic areas of the GSSD Expo 2014 address Sustainable Development with particular focus on: (1) Poverty Eradication; (2) Food Security; (3) Public Private Partnerships; (4) Green Technology Transfer; (5) Decent Work; (6) Industrial Development; (7) Green Economies; and (8) Global Health.
For more information and to register: http://www.southsouthexpo.org.
Media Contacts: Adam Rogers, UNOSSC Geneva: adam.rogers(at)undp.org, mobile +1 202-830-7257;
or Mithre J. Sandrasagra, UNOSSC New York: mithre.sandrasagra(at)undp.org, mobile +1 646 391 7834
Adam Rogers, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, http://unossc.org, +41 798490679, [email protected]
Share this article