South-south co-operation ‘vital for collective growth’

The Undersecretary for International Affairs, Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, met with the Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, Jorge Chediek, in New York City, United States of America, on the sidelines of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). During the meeting, Dr Shaikh Abdulla stressed the importance of South-South co-operation as a vital and distinctive mechanism to enhance knowledge capacity building and digital technology to make the desired progress, also there are many areas available to improve sustainable economic growth, infrastructure, the use of renewable energy resources, advanced training programmes, human development and others.

The Undersecretary pointed out that a broad framework of South-South co-operation in various fields would achieve mutual benefits and developmental sharing of knowledge, skills, experience and resources, in addition to the establishment of meaningful partnerships, skills and resources in line with the seventeenth objective of enhancing means of implementation and revitalising the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development 2030.

Dr Shaikh Abdulla praised the contribution of the United Nations and its specialised agencies and programmes in maximising the benefits of South-South cooperation in order to create new and better opportunities for a better life, noting that the world recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation Among Developing Countries under the normative and operational principles of such co-operation.

The Undersecretary of International Affairs affirmed that the Kingdom with the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, at every opportunity, is keen to promote positive co-operation with the United Nations in various fields and to strengthen capacity-building programmes. “The Kingdom also believes in the importance of the close links between security and development and the advancement of collective action mechanisms to meet common challenges.” He reviewed the framework of co-operation between the Kingdom and the International Organisation, which produced an extended and influential partnership, pointing out to the signing of the strategic partnership framework between the two sides for the years 2018-2022.

He also commended the joint co-operation between the Kingdom and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation in organising the High Level Forum for the Middle East and North Africa on Green Economy, held from 2 to 4 July, 2019 in Manama. Mr Chediek said that SouthSouth cooperation contributed in achieving higher rates of economic growth and sustainable development, praising Bahrain’s pioneering development model and the Kingdom’s keenness to build a distinct partnership with the United Nations in the context of supporting development strategies and indicators, valuing the outputs of the strategic partnership framework in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development 2030.