North-South Cooperation

Overcoming Vaccine Inequities and Enabling Small States' Post-Covid19 Recovery

Viewpoint by P. I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The “catastrophic moral failure” into which the world is seen as heading, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, can readily be understood as having its ideological basis in the callous principle of “profits before people for optimum shareholder-value”.

Our 21st century world of increasing gross inequality need not sound so “catastrophic”. Its origin lies in the historically dominant practice of large multinational pharmaceutical corporations delivering well-researched products, supposedly, to improve/save the plant, animal or human life.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 23 January 2021

Photo credit: Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), Cape Town

Time to Dispense with the Rhetoric of Decolonisation

Viewpoint by Themrise Khan*

KARACHI (IDN) – While preparing to speak at an online discussion on decolonising the aid sector, I searched Google Translate for a corresponding word for 'decolonisation’ in my native language of Urdu. I couldn’t find one. In many other languages, from Arabic to Spanish, only a loanword exists. It’s just one example of how the discussion on decolonisation rarely centres the colonised.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 18 January 2021

Photo: Rex Essenow (left by Kester Kenn Klomegah) and NIDO Russia.

A Window Opens in Business Ties Between Russia and Nigeria

Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – As part of efforts to connect Russia with Nigeria and to lure potential Russian investors and businesspeople to Nigeria and vice versa, a business lecture platform "Doing Business with Nigeria" has been created in November. Its primary aim is to get the Russian business community to understand the economic and investment potentials as well as the current market conditions in Nigeria.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; OPINION; 01 December 2020

Photo: Nurses working in a South African COVID-19 clinic, based on a train, which travels to reach different communities. Credit: EPA-EFE

COVID-19: Europeans Can Learn from Developing Countries

Developed Countries Should Change Their Mindset

Viewpoint by Maru Mormina and Ifeanyi M. Nsofor*

OXFORD | WASHINGTON (IDN) – Nine months into the pandemic, Europe remains one of the regions worst affected by COVID-19. Ten of the 20 countries with the highest death count per million people are European. The other ten are in the Americas. This includes the US, which has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world.

Most of Africa and Asia, on the contrary, still seems spared. Of the countries with reported COVID-related deaths, the ten with the lowest death count per million are in these parts of the world. But while mistakes and misjudgements have fuelled sustained criticism of the UK’s handling of the pandemic, the success of much of the developing world remains unsung.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 18 October 2020

Photo: Signing ceremony for exchange of letters between UNOSSC and ACP Secretariat.

South-South Cooperation and Director Jorge Chediek: A Tribute

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The annual observance of UN Day for South-South Cooperation on September 12 was anticipated by a Virtual High-Level Event hosted by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSCC) on September 10, 2020.

The event, chaired by UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for South-South Cooperation and Director, UNOSCC, Mr. Jorge Chediek, was a further milestone of achievements by UNOSSC as it marked the launch of the Volume 3 publication on Good Practices in South-South & Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development. This Volume contains 200 good practices from 35 member states, 23 UN entities and other developing partners.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 13 September 2020

Photo: Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Chair of the LLDCs Group, speaking at at the Ambassadorial level First 2020 Meeting of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries on 22 Januray. Credit: Kazakhstan Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Kazakh Roadmap for LLDCs as 2020-2021 Chair

By Ambassador Kairat Umarov

Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) on 8 January for the period 2020-2021. The following are extensive excerpts from the statement of LLDC Chair Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York, at the First 2020 Meeting of the LLDCs at the Ambassadorial level,

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 12 February 2020

Photo (L-R): Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in Brussels, Carmelo Nvono-Ncá preparing trip modalities for the signing with ACP Group Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes. Credit: ACP Press

ACP Information Centre for South-South and Triangular Cooperation Established in Equatorial Guinea

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific Information Centre for South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SS&TrC) has been formally established in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea. The Centre is a gift of President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the government and the people of the country in Central Africa, to the people and the ACP Group of 79 member states.

When the Centre was established on August 9, less than a year after it was unveiled on October 4, 2018, President Obiang referred to this inauguration as "historical" and "the most salient token of Southern peoples and countries’ solidarity that is aimed at enhancing their respective autonomy and support their efforts to achieve the international Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) foreseen in the 2030 Agenda.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 15 August 2019

EU and 79 ACP Countries Aim at New Partnership to Address Global Challenges

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The heads of state or government of the 28 EU member states, constituting the European Council, have authorized the European Commission to open negotiations for a new partnership agreement with 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). The Group's Secretary-General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes has greeted the decision.

The European Commission announced the Council decision on June 22, two days after the conclusion of the June 18-20 ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, where representatives of the European Commission stressed that future partnership should be "a genuine, open and constructive dialogue, and not just going through the motions".

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 23 June 2018

Photo: Ambassador Galo Yepez, Director of NGOs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of the Republic of Ecuador, addressing on behalf of the Group of 77 and China the High-Level Opening Ceremony of the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2017 on 27 November in Antalya, Turkey. Credit: UNOSSC

South-South Cooperation Complements North-South Coaction

By Ambassador Galo Yepez

Ambassador Galo Yepez is Director of NGOs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of the Republic of Ecuador. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China at the High-Level Opening Ceremony of the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2017 on 27 November in Antalya, Turkey. Read our report on the Expo. – The Editor.

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - The Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo this year highlights the South-South Cooperation in the Era of Economic, Social and Environmental Transformation. In this regard I have to emphasize that South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity among peoples and countries of the South that contributes to their national well-being, national and collective self-reliance and the attainment of the 2030 Agenda.