Brussels, 05 March 2019/ACP:The ACP Secretariat will host a side event on the theme of ‘The ACP Group’s commitment to South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) for the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ during the second high-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 20 to 22 March 2019. The side event will take place on Thursday 21 March 2019. It will feature a panel discussion and the presentation of a joint ACP-United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) publication on success stories on South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC), also known as South-South in Action (SSiA).

The overarching theme of the BAPA+40 conference is: ‘The Role of South-South Cooperation and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities’. Dr. P.I. Gomes, ACP Secretary General said: “We are delighted to participate in this second conference on South-South cooperation seeing that the ACP Group is itself a stellar example of South-South cooperation, working as we do with 79 member states in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to facilitate the sharing of both knowledge and experiences among all development partners. As we move into the post-Cotonou era, we look forward to building on these experiences and facilitating even more SSTC.”

Speaking about the joint-publication with UNOSSOC, Mr Henrique Banze, Assistant Secretary General, Macro-economics, Development Finance and Intra-ACP Programming at the Secretariat commented, “The ACP Group, as a tri-continental organization, has a comparative advantage in South-South cooperation. It is in this regard that we collaborated with UNOSSC, a partner since 2016, to produce this document which gives concrete examples of South-South and Triangular cooperation in action; to share positive case studies and highlight areas for action and improvement so we can better achieve the goals of the 2030 agenda.”

The ACP Group of States has extensive and in-depth experience in North-South development cooperation (NSC) and has consistently supported South-South collaboration. Over the past eight years however, SSTC has gained increased prominence in the ACP Group’s work programme. The Group has participated in international conferences and held symposia and meetings on SSTC. In addition to the joint publication with UNOSSC, the lessons learnt from the outcomes and conclusions of these meetings have led to the creation of an ACP Information Centre for SSTC, which was last year established in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

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Additional information on the United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (BAPA+40) is available here. For more information and to pre-register for the side event please visit our website at www.acp.int/bapa+40.