16th Meeting of Senior Fellowships Officers of the ... - Development

16th Meeting of Senior Fellowships Officers of the United Nations System and Host Country Agencies
direct investments, scarcity of technology transfer, stringent conditions on debt servicing
and other complaints intensified in multilateral and no less in South-North talks.
25. Thus, there had been a longstanding and noble history of South-South interaction
from the 1955 Bandung Conference through many subsequent gatherings, linking up
the three continents. Experiences were shared and new strategies were hatched in pursuit
of a better and peaceful world and prosperity that all could share. Indeed, victories
had been won during the last four decades of the 20th century. Independence had been
achieved virtually in all former colonies. Demonstrable economic success stories in Asia
and Latin America, but also in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, kept hope
alive.
26. Dr. Gurirab expressed concern that progress was far from confirming full realization of
global consensus, social justice and prosperity that all ought to enjoy commonly in the
South and in the North. More than 5 years after the adoption of the Millennium Development
Goals and accompanying promises made in connection with financing for
development, the world was still beset by regional wars, gender inequity and confrontational
trade talks. He used a metaphor to emphasize that in the current condition of
the real world, South-South cooperation had become, as a matter of reality, a wounded
cow in the state of affairs which itself yearned for survival.
27. Giving his own assessment of the current situation in South-South cooperation, Dr.
Gurirab referred to the make-up of the South itself: There were OPEC and other oil
and gas producing countries with a huge financial clout; there were advanced middle
income developing countries with big markets and influence; others were resource-rich
or strategically situated countries in terms of geo-politics and strategic considerations.
Added to those impressive constellations of common interest was the resourceful space
occupied by intellectuals, writers, researchers and technocrats in various fields who
were on a ready stand-by to take up any worthy causes in the context of South-South
cooperation. But, there appeared to be a major disconnect for the most part due to
political reasons at home and regional priorities.
28. The reality was that the earlier dynamic configuration of camaraderie underpinned
by political solidarity was progressively dissipating in the face of forceful impact of
globalization and new alignments of special interest of key countries of the South, as
exemplified at WTO conferences. While G-77 and China was the official negotiating
framework, certain preferences might not always follow the same track, in dealings by
some, with industrialized countries. Given the raging wars in the Middle East, nuclear
proliferation efforts, war on terror since September 2001 and failed Doha rounds, unanimity
or a solid consensus were no longer predictable when South conferences took
place.
29. To illustrate his point, Dr. Gurirab referred to the Meeting of the International Parliamentary
Union in Geneva in late October 2006. He noted that there were surprising
divisions among countries of the South. One draft resolution on Lebanon