South-South Cooperation

A/RES/70/222View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 25bSouth-South cooperation for development, published in 2015.

What other versions does this mandate have?

18 versions · 2006–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/156

2025A/RES/80/156South-South cooperationLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/236South-South cooperationCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/167South-South cooperationCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/185South-South cooperationCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/221South-South cooperationCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 topics

Coordination Within UN System Development Strategies Economic Cooperation Among Developing Countries Funds Inter-Agency Cooperation Regional Cooperation Resources Mobilization South-South Relations Sustainable Development

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2016.

2016A/71/208State of South-South cooperation report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

25 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the decision adopted by the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation at its special intersessional meeting held on 8, 14 and 15 September 2015;

Also takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the state of South-South cooperation;

Recognizes that the Joint Inspection Unit, in its report on South-South and triangular cooperation in the United Nations system, provided recommendations to the United Nations development system on implementing measures to further strengthen the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and takes note of the accompanying note by the Secretary-General;

Also recognizes the importance and unique history and particularities of South-South cooperation, reaffirms its view of South-South cooperation as 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 Sustainable Development Goals, which build upon the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals and seek to address their unfinished business, and also reaffirms that South-South cooperation and its agenda have to be set by countries of the South and should continue to be guided by the principles of respect for national sovereignty, national ownership and independence, equality, non-conditionality, non-interference in domestic affairs and mutual benefit;

Stresses that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation;

Welcomes the increased contributions of South-South cooperation to poverty eradication and sustainable development, encourages developing countries to voluntarily step up their efforts to strengthen South-South cooperation and to further improve its development effectiveness, in accordance with the provisions of the Nairobi outcome document of the High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, and welcomes commitments to strengthen triangular cooperation as a means of bringing relevant experience and expertise to bear in development cooperation;

Requests continued integration of South-South and triangular cooperation into the policies and strategic frameworks of the funds, programmes and the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, as appropriate and consistent with their respective mandates, in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Reiterates its request to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, as Chair of the United Nations Development Group, to make specific recommendations on additional support that United Nations system organizations and all States could provide to South-South and triangular cooperation, which could include the voluntary secondment of staff and the appointment of Junior Professional Officers to the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, as well as measures to strengthen the system-wide efficiency and impact of the Office;

Requests the Secretary-General to make necessary adjustments, as appropriate, to the framework of operational guidelines on United Nations support to South-South and triangular cooperation, in consultation with all States and organizations of the United Nations development system;

Reaffirms the mandate and the central role of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation as the focal point for promoting and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation for development on a global and United Nations system-wide basis, and requests the Secretary-General, noting that further deliberation by all States on the options presented in his report on measures to further strengthen the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation will be required before a decision is taken on the idea of separating the Office for South-South Cooperation as operationally autonomous from the United Nations Development Programme, to present, as part of his comprehensive report to the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation at its nineteenth session, to be held in 2016, in consultation with all States, the Office for South-South Cooperation and the United Nations Development Programme, a comprehensive proposal on concrete ways to enhance the role of and improve the impact of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme, including in the areas of financial, human and budgetary resources, including through the potential appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation, and at the same time recommending specific contributions of the United Nations Development Programme under such a change, with a view to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Reiterates the request to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, as Chair of the United Nations Development Group, to establish a more formalized and strengthened inter-agency mechanism, coordinated by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, with a view to encouraging joint support to South-South and triangular initiatives and sharing information on development activities and results achieved by various organizations through their respective business models in support of South-South and triangular cooperation, calls upon the United Nations development system to designate representational focal points to join the mechanism, and requests the Administrator to give the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation the opportunity to be represented more regularly in strategic and coordination mechanisms of the United Nations Development Group when matters affecting South-South and triangular cooperation are being discussed;

Welcomes with satisfaction the progress made by the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Task Team of the United Nations Development Group in establishing a more formalized and strengthened inter-agency mechanism coordinated by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation and in designating United Nations development system focal points to join the mechanism, and in this regard requests the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, as Chair of the United Nations Development Group, to include, as part of the regular reporting, an update on the progress of the work of the Task Team for the consideration of Member States by the end of 2016;

Calls upon the United Nations Development Programme and other relevant organizations of the United Nations development system to assist developing countries in implementing projects of South-South cooperation, including sharing best practices and experiences from the South, especially with the least developed countries, upon request and in a manner consistent with their mandates and strategic plans;

Invites the United Nations development system to encourage the transfer of technologies on mutually agreed terms for the benefit of developing countries to address poverty eradication and sustainable development;

Welcomes the launch, in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, and looks forward to its expeditious operationalization;

Recognizes the important role of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation, and in this context requests the Secretary-General, with the support of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, to take steps, within existing resources, to update and to create appropriate new policy tools in order that the United Nations system may effectively support Member States, upon request, in using South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation to assist in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Acknowledges the positive efforts made by United Nations organizations to develop thematic strategies for the implementation of South-South cooperation, and in that regard requests the United Nations development system, in consultation with Member States, to strive to increasingly leverage, as appropriate, South-South cooperation to bolster its impact in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Requests the United Nations system to intensify its cooperation and improve its support in areas where South-South cooperation has proven effective, including policy coordination, regional integration, interregional linkages, infrastructure interconnectivity and the development of national productive capacities through exchanges of knowledge and technological innovations;

Welcomes the support of some developing countries to South-South and triangular initiatives aimed at improving nutrition and food security, and invites the replication of this approach in other areas of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, drawing on the technical expertise of various United Nations organizations;

Notes that, in response to the growing demand for support to South-South cooperation at the regional and subregional levels, the regional commissions have advanced South-South cooperation by undertaking policy research and analysis on issues of importance to their member States, convening high-level policy dialogues, forging strategic partnerships and promoting specific capacity-development and other initiatives, and in that regard invites the regional commissions to support developing countries, upon request, in integrating the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into their nationally owned sustainable development strategies, in areas such as regional development planning and fiscal frameworks, and to help promote policy coherence and coordination and the enhancement of the data and statistical capacities of Member States for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Urges the United Nations system to continue its support to regional and subregional organizations, enabling their member States to build more partnerships and cross-border frameworks, with a view to promoting and scaling up best practices in South-South and triangular cooperation with the potential to benefit a large number of developing countries;

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to provide in his report to the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation at its nineteenth session an update on the concrete steps taken to further strengthen South-South cooperation within the United Nations development system;

Recognizes the need to mobilize adequate resources for enhancing South-South and triangular cooperation, and in this context invites all countries in a position to do so to contribute, in support of such cooperation, to the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation and to the Pérez-Guerrero Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation, in accordance with its resolution 57/263 of 20 December 2002, and to support other initiatives for all developing countries, including technology transfers among developing countries;

Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to ensure that no country is left behind in the implementation of the present resolution;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session a report on the state of South-South cooperation, including an assessment of the concrete measures taken by the United Nations development system to improve its support to South-South cooperation, and on the implementation of the present resolution, and decides to include the sub-item entitled “South-South cooperation for development” under the item entitled “Operational activities for development” in the provisional agenda of its seventy-first session, unless otherwise agreed in the discussions on the revitalization of the Second Committee.

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Who created this mandate?

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What does this mandate say?

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