United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation 2026

Good morning, colleagues. If you take your seats, we can start on time. Thank you. A bit late. He's coming back. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, and friends, good morning. My name is Maher Nasser. I'm the director of the Outreach Division in the Department of Global Communications and have the honor to moderate this session and thank my colleagues in the South-South Cooperation Office for inviting me to be with you today. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2026 observance of the United Nations Day of South-South Cooperation, which is being held under the theme, "Solidarity Rising: Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development." Across the global South, countries are sharing solutions, expertise, and innovation, from renewable energy and digital transformation to public health, sustainable agriculture, and resilient cities. These exchanges show us that development progress is strongest when knowledge and opportunities are shared, and when countries can build on approaches that have already proved their values particularly in countries with similar challenges and conditions. This spirit is especially important at a time of mounting debt pressure, climate shocks, and widening inequalities. No country can meet these challenges alone. South-South and triangular cooperation turns solidarity into practical action. Countries learn from one another. Partners contribute catalytic support and successful solutions travel further and faster. Today's observance mark an important next step, the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, a voluntary platform designed to connect country demand with Southern-led solutions, partnerships, and support. Universities will be an important partner in this effort. Through the United Nations Academic Impact, which I lead, an initiative of the United Nations Department of Global Communications, institutions of higher education align teaching, research, and outreach with the goals of the United Nations, the SDGs. Their knowledge, networks, and ability to engage new generation can help identify, adapt, and scale practical solutions through South-South and triangular cooperation. Today, we are honored to be joined by leaders and partners who will help us reflect on this momentum and on the action still required to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals. To open our program, please direct your attention to the screens for a short-- actually, that was the old program, so forget about that. And now my honor to invite Dr. Dina Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation, to deliver the welcoming remarks. Dina, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Maher. Good morning, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, and colleagues and friends. and welcome to the 2026 celebration of the United Nations Day for South South cooperation as Maher has just mentioned our theme today is solidarity Rising Global Alliance for inclusive and Innovative development and it speaks both to the character and the principles of South South cooperation as well as the urgency of the moment in an era marked by complex Global challenges the global South continues to demonstrate Global uh remarkable resilience solidarity Sustainability is no longer just a moral imperative, it is the practical foundation for our shared future. We are witnessing a rising tide of mutual support, where developing nations are increasingly pooling resources and sharing knowledge. We are witnessing researchers across regions pursue a common challenge. Cities and communities exchange ideas that open new possibilities for people. countries contributing to pooled resources, such as, for example, the South-South trust funds that we manage, turning shared priorities into practical development results. These relationships are built through listening, reciprocity, and trust. They recognize that development knowledge is found everywhere and that every country approaches cooperation with capacities as well as needs. Today, the principle carries a particular weight. Many countries are contending simultaneously with fiscal constraints, with climate shocks, digital divide, and persistent inequalities. These pressures make cooperation across the global south and engagement with triangular partners more critical, practical, and consequential. At UNWASA, our role is to help create solutions in which south, south, and triangle cooperation can flourish. And with your engagement, we support intergovernmental dialogues, we strengthen coordination across the United Nations system, we facilitate partnerships, we manage cooperation funds, we document effective practices, and help countries build the institutional capacities needed to pursue their priorities. On this occasion, I'd like to salute and thank our vital partners who have championed South-South and triangular cooperation and demonstrated solidarity in practice. The robust cooperation, for example, with the People's Republic of China through the China-UN Global South-South Development Facility, the Republic of India through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, and the IBSA Fund, the India, Brazil, and South Africa Fund, a phenomenal showcase of solidarity celebrating their 20 years in action this year. Portugal, Spain, Morocco, the Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Turkey, alongside many others, they stand as a testament to what we can achieve together. Through these partnerships, we have demonstrated and scaled high-impact solutions, enabled Southern-led and homegrown solutions, and fostered inclusive growth. I also wish to recognize and thank all the Member States, the United Nations entities, the regional organizations, development institutions, funds, civil society organizations, academic institutions, and private sector partners with whom we have been closely working to advance South-South and triangular cooperation. Your expertise, resources, and sustained engagement make our collective work possible. This morning gives us opportunity to carry this work forward. We will integrate with you the Global Alliance for South-South and triangular cooperation, a new connective architecture designed to bring greater coherence and speed to the way development needs are linked with the knowledge, expertise, solutions, and opportunities for support that already exist across the global South and North. The Global Alliance will connect and amplify the important mechanisms already led by the member states. the United Nations entities and other partners, making South-South and triangular cooperation even more accessible and responsive to the priorities of the countries in the Global South. Let me also note that in advancing the Global Alliance, the United Nations system will play a key critical role. reflecting the directions of the UN80 initiative towards a more agile, coherent, and networked UN system, able to draw more effectively on expertise and capabilities from across the system. Allow me to extend my sincere appreciation to UNDP, our host organization, for the longstanding support for sustaining UNWSSC and advancing this agenda forward in its ongoing program. Especially thanks also to our moderator, Mr. Maher Nasser, and to all the distinguished speakers and participants. So I wish you all a very productive commemoration today. And over to you, Maher. I thank you.

Thank you, Director Al-Khatib. And I would like just to note that interpretation, with thanks to our colleagues in the Department of Global DG ISM, is provided until 11:45. After that, there will be no interpretation. the now we move to the next part of the program. Uh, SEC General has been a steadfast supporter of South South and triangular cooperation, recognizing its importance in advancing solidarity, innovation and sustainable development. His leadership has consistently encouraged stronger partnerships to bring successful southern led solutions to scale and to accelerate progress towards the sustainable development goals. It is my privilege to introduce a special message from SEC General Antonio Guterres. Please Follow the screen. Thank you.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, I send my warmest greetings as you gather to celebrate the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. South-South cooperation is solidarity in action. From farmers adapting to climate change, to health workers responding to outbreaks, to entrepreneurs expanding access to green energy, Today's launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation marks an exciting new chapter. By bringing together governments, development banks, academia, and the private sector, this alliance will help connect ideas to investment and ambition to action. It must also act as a catalyst for North-South cooperation, encouraging developed countries to play their vital part. In a moment of division and conflict, this day is a reminder that we are always stronger as one. Together, it has ensured that solutions created anywhere can improve lives everywhere. I wish you all a successful gathering, and I thank you.

We thank the Secretary-General for his message and his steadfast support for South-South and triangular cooperation. Under His Excellency Mr. Amar Benjema's leadership, ECOSOC is prioritizing greater inclusion, faster implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and renewed trust in multilateralism. His emphasis on countries in special situations, development financing, environmental action and digital transformation closely reflects the practical value of South-South and triangular cooperation in converting shared priorities into tangible results. I now have the honor to give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Amar Benjama, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations and President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Mr. President, you have the floor.

Thank you. Excellencies, good morning. It's my honor to join you today to mark the UN Day for South-South cooperation. As I begin my presidency of ECOSOC, I have set three priorities. First and foremost, inclusivity. Second, accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. And third, renewing trust in multilateralism, while strengthening the role of ECOSOC. These priorities respond to a stark reality. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda is off track. Financing pressures are growing with now an unbearable, unbearable debt burden. Climate impacts are intensifying with worsening natural disasters. And rapid technological change risks widening existing divides. Confronted with these challenges, solidarity among us is not optional. It is essential. But solidarity alone is not enough. Solidarity must be matched by practical action. This is the true power of South-South and triangular cooperation. Across our Global South, our nations are not only facing crisis. They are generating knowledge. They are building capabilities. They are driving innovation. Our challenge today is not a lack of solution. Our challenge is, unfortunately, scale. It is making successful solutions easier to share, easier to spread, easier to adapt, and easier, finally, to scale. This requires stronger institutions. It requires adequate financing, and it requires partnerships that bring together governments, the UN system, local stakeholders, and also the private sector. The launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and triangular cooperation is therefore vital, a vital step forward. By connecting development priorities with Southern knowledge, with Southern solutions, the Alliance can turn commitments into concrete results. And the timing could not be more critical. The 2027 Summit is approaching. The last one before the 2030 deadline. The comprehensive review of the Buenos Aires Programme of Action +40 is before us. We must not arrive at this milestone with again and again empty declarations. We must arrive with proven result, with concrete delivery. And ECOSOC, ECOSOC stand ready to do its part through the High-Level Political Forum and the Financing for Development Forum, we will do our utmost to bring the voices, to bring the solutions of the Global South to the forefront, to the center of international decision-making. Excellencies, dear colleagues, South-South cooperation rests on a simple, simple truth. Countries have much to learn from one another. Let us strengthen these connections. Let us scale what really works. And let us deliver tangible, tangible results. tangible progress for people and for the planet. I thank you.

I thank His Excellency the President of the Economic and Social Council for his remarks and for underscoring the role of South-South and triangular cooperation in delivering sustainable development results. During his presidency of the 22nd session of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, His Excellency, Ambassador Omar Hilal, has demonstrated a strong commitment to raising the profile of South-South and triangular cooperation across the United Nations development agenda. His leadership has helped reinforce these modalities as practical, country-led means of sharing knowledge, building partnerships, and accelerating sustainable development. It is now my pleasure to invite His Excellency Mr. Omar Hilal, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations and President of the 22nd Session of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation. Your Excellency, President, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, dear Mahir. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and partners. I'm delighted to join you in my capacity of President of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation as we mark the 2026 United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. As we celebrate the 23rd United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, we recognize how this observance, established by the General Assembly in 2003, has matured into meaningful annual moment for collective ambition and also action. Over more than two decades, what began as a symbolic acknowledgement of developing countries cooperation has evolved into concrete space in which we assess progress and also point out challenges facing South-South and triangular cooperation. This year's theme Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development, is both timely and significant. Countries are increasingly leveraging South-South cooperation anchored in solidarity, not only to advance national priorities, but to shape a more resilient, more equitable, and more interconnected global development landscape. Across the Global South, Nations have shown that shared experience and common challenges can become shared pathways for development across all regions of the world. Trade among developing countries has significantly increased to reach 7.2 trillion US dollar in 2025. Sharing best practices and tools of agricultural innovation is strengthening food security. Digital infrastructure expertise is helping close connectivity gaps. And health systems partnerships have helped carry us through the darkest days of recent crisis. So it is clear that we are building momentum in which South-South and triangular cooperation has moved from the margin of the international agenda to its heart. Excellencies, our discussion today must also recognize the deeply challenging international context. As we have also heard from previous speakers, geopolitical fragmentations and shocks and proliferating conflicts are disturbing economies and weakening international cooperation. Developing countries are simultaneously confronting record debt, climate-induced disaster, and widening digital divide, all against the backdrop of rapidly shrinking development financing landscape. According to the World Bank, between 2022 and 2024, Low and mid-income countries paid 741 billion US dollar more in principal and interest on external debt than they received in new financing. The largest such outflow in at least 50 years. UNCTAD estimates that 3.4 billion people live in countries spending more on debt and interest payment than on education or health care. These figures and realities are too challenging for any country to navigate alone. In such context, cooperation anchored in genuine solidarity is not a choice, but a necessity, if not an imperative. Dear colleagues, South-South and triangular cooperation lie at the very core of the Kingdom of Morocco's foreign policy. Guided by the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Morocco has long championed an action-oriented South-South cooperation strategy anchored in solidarity at the level of the African region with countries of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Capitalizing on my country's strong and unwavering commitment to these modalities and drawing on my experience as President of the 22nd High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, I have witnessed growing momentum and deepening commitments to South-South and triangular cooperation at the United Nations. as well as an increasingly prominent role of the HLC in advancing these modalities within the United Nations agenda. And I seize this occasion to welcome the key role played by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation as the backbone of this agenda at the UN system. Looking ahead, The comprehensive review of BAPA+40 in 2028 will provide an important opportunity to take stock of progress, but also to strengthen the tools and means for South-South and triangular cooperation. Excellencies, this year's United Nations Day for South-South and Cooperation marks a turning point as our annual reflection on solidarity and shared development converges with the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. As shared with you by the UN OASCC during the preparatory phase of its inception, the Global Alliance is a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform designed to move our collective efforts from exchange and dialogue toward partnership and implementations. With barely four years left before the 2030 deadline, this year's observance reminds us that solidarity is not an abstract principle. It is an operational necessity. that the national community is confronting sobering reality. Most sustainable development goals are not on track. And in many areas, progress has stalled or reversed. Yet, it is precisely in this context that South-South and triangular cooperation can generate the momentum we urgently need. As we look forward, the 81st session of first session of the General Assembly, this launch comes at an important moment of international cooperation. Let us make of this United Nations Day more than a celebration. Let us make of the Global Alliance a bridge builder between countries, institutions, knowledge, and bankable projects. On this day, let us reaffirm our collective commitment to South-South and triangular cooperation as pillar of a more equitable and sustainable future. I thank you.

I thank His Excellency Ambassador Hilal for his remarks and for the high-level committee's leadership in advancing South-South and triangular cooperation. I understand His Excellency, the President of ECOSOC, will need to leave the meeting and then we will move to the next session. Ambassador, thank you. The Group of 77 and China has reaffirmed South-South and triangular cooperation as essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to strengthen the collective voice of the Global South. The group continues to champion cooperation, grounded in solidarity, equality, national ownership, and mutual benefit, while calling for stronger cooperation and mechanisms and a fairer international development architecture. I now have the honor to invite Her Excellency, Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lacere, Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations and Chair of the Group of 77 and China. Ambassador, you have the floor.

Good morning. Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator, Madam Director, Excellencies. On the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, the Group of 77 and China reaffirms its unwavering commitment to South-South cooperation as a fundamental expression of solidarity among developing countries and an essential instrument for advancing sustainable development and strengthening the collective capacity, voice, and agency of the Global South. This observance provides an opportunity not only to commemorate the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action in 1978, but also to reaffirm the principles and aspirations that continue to guide our collective efforts. The Buenos Aires Outcome Document, adopted in 2019, further strengthened this vision and provided an important framework for advancing South-South and triangular cooperation in accordance with the national priorities, needs, and ownership of developing countries. In this context, the Group welcomes the adoption on 24 July 2026 of the Modalities Resolution establishing the framework for the comprehensive, inclusive and Member State-led review of the implementation of the Buenos Aires Outcome Document. The forthcoming review provides an important opportunity to assess progress, identify remaining gaps and emerging challenges, and renew political momentum for South-South cooperation. South-South cooperation is guided by the principles of respect for national sovereignty, national ownership and independence, equality, non-conditionality, non-interference in domestic affairs and mutual benefit, as you just mentioned, Mr. Moderator. It is voluntary in nature and remains a complement to, and not a substitute for, North-South cooperation. nor can South-South cooperation substitute for official development assistance or for commitments undertaken by developed countries in the field of development as well as on climate finance. Then, Mr. Moderator, we meet at a time when developing countries continue to face multiple and interconnected challenges, financing gaps, debt vulnerabilities, constrained fiscal space, climate change, food and energy insecurity, and persistent technological and digital divides, among others. Against this backdrop, the importance of South-South cooperation has never been greater. Cooperation among developing countries enables the exchange of knowledge, technology, expertise, and innovative solutions while strengthening resilience and supporting nationally determined and country-led development priorities. in line with the Agenda 2030. South-South and triangular cooperation can also support productive transformation, strengthen national capacities and institutions, and enable developing countries not merely to be recipients or users of knowledge and technology, but increasingly to act as innovators, producers, and co-creators of solutions. Particular attention must be given to closing technological and digital divides and ensuring that advances in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, advances on that, do not generate new forms of exclusion or dependency. South-South cooperation is therefore more than a mechanism for exchanging good practices. It is an important vehicle for strengthening collective self-reliance advancing the development priorities of the Global South. The group also reaffirms the central role of the United Nations in promoting and supporting South-South cooperation. In this regard, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation plays a particularly important role in facilitating partnerships, knowledge sharing, and the exchange of development solutions. We stress the need for adequate, predictable, and sustainable financial institutional support for UNOS, so that it can effectively support member states and fulfill its mandates. The group commands South-South and triangular cooperation initiatives and funding mechanisms such as the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation, the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, the India-Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation, IBSAM Fund, the G77 Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation, PGTF, the triangular cooperation window under the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation, the China-UN Global South-South Development Facility, and other trust funds for their contribution to the Global South. These funds seek to innovatively put into practice South-South cooperation by contributing resources and expanding partnerships for development cooperation anchored at the multilateral level. As we move towards the forthcoming review of the Buenos Aires Outcome Document, the review should help us close implementation gaps, strengthen institutional support without duplications, expand access to the means of implementation or improve its quality, and scale up successful Southern-led solutions to achieve greater impact on the ground, while fully preserving the distinct nature and principles of South-South cooperation. On this United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, the Group reiterates its readiness to engage constructively to strengthen international development cooperation based on the principle of solidarity, being South-South cooperation an instrument of collective action and transformation in support of a more just, peaceful, resilient and sustainable future for all. I thank you.

Thank her Excellency, Ambassador Dupuy-Lasserre, for her remarks and for reaffirming the central role of developing countries in shaping solutions through solidarity, mutual respect, and shared leadership. The next contribution is a video message from Mr. Alexander de Krug, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP. UNDP has long been a champion and supporting of South-South and triangular cooperation, helping countries exchange knowledge, build capacity, and scale successful solutions across regions. As the host of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation and convener of the High-Level Committee, UNDP plays a central role in translating policy commitments into practical development results. The video will play.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, it is a privilege to join these events, even from a distance, as we mark United Nations Day for Sustainable Development. The world is changing. Climate shocks are getting more intense and more frequent. Debt burdens and limited finances are holding back investments. And technology is moving faster than many countries can adapt. For too many people, the future feels less certain and less secure. But there is another story. As traditional development models shift, South-South and triangular cooperation is becoming central to how development happens. Across the Global South, countries are shaping their own solutions, testing new ideas, adapting what works, and sharing experience across borders. Governments are using new digital tools to solve long-standing problems. Cities are redesigning public services. Farmers are finding new ways to adapt to harsher climates. So the challenge is not a shortage of ideas. It is turning them into solutions that can travel from one country to another, from expertise to implementation, from innovation to finance. That is the gap that the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation is designed to close. It connects country demands directly with Southern-led solutions, and with the partners, expertise and financing needed to turn them into results. Think of it as a new marketplace. A place to find what works, to learn from one another. And most importantly, to move from knowledge to action. It also opens the door to a new partnership, including with the private sector, bringing more capital, know-how, and innovation to where they are needed most. Colleagues and friends, the real opportunity is not to invent more solutions. It is to move solutions that already work from one country to another, from one community to another, from proof of concept to scale. That is why UNDP is proud to host the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. Together, our role is simple. Listen to what countries need. Connect them to solutions. Help finance the next step. And deliver at scale. Solidarity is not about sharing promises. It is about sharing what works and making it travel. Further, faster, together. Thank you.

I thank Mr. de Croue for his message and for UNDP's continued support for countries and partners advancing South-South and triangular cooperation. Excellencies, colleagues, and now we come to the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. The Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation is a voluntary, demand-driven, and multi-stakeholder platform that connects countries' development priorities with relevant knowledge, expertise, solutions, and partners from across the global south and beyond. By facilitating the exchange of demands and offers, fostering communities of practice, and supporting the adaptation and scaling up of proven solutions, the Alliance aims to turn shared experience into practical cooperation and measurable development results. To introduce the vision behind the Global Alliance, please watch the video.

Across the Global South, countries and communities are confronting interconnected challenges on an unprecedented scale and creating practical solutions in response. They are adapting to climate change, strengthening food systems, expanding digital access, and improving health, education, and public services. These solutions deliver results, yet too many remain isolated, under-resourced, or unknown beyond the places where they began. At the same time, climate shocks are intensifying, development financing is constrained, inequalities are deepening, and new technological divides are emerging. The cost of fragmented action is rising. We cannot afford to reinvent solutions that already exist. We must connect them to real demand, adapt them to local context, and take them to scale. In a more fragmented world, South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation offers a powerful way forward, peer-to-peer exchange, grounded in solidarity, equality, and mutual benefit. Triangular cooperation expands these possibilities by bringing additional expertise, financing, networks, and institutional support around country-led priorities. Together, they turn shared experience into practical, results-oriented cooperation. The Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation brings this potential together. Through the South-South Compass, members can follow relevant news, publications, events, and emerging opportunities. It creates a common space where governments and partners can identify priorities, discover proven approaches and the people behind them, build implementation partnerships, and mobilize the expertise and support needed to act. It moves cooperation from knowledge to partnership and from partnership to action. At its center is a unique digital AI-powered matchmaking ecosystem. It connects organizations, experts, demands and offers, development solutions, good practices, knowledge products and funding opportunities. Drawing on each member's profile, expertise, interests and geographic focus, the platform identifies tailored matches in seconds, helping the right institutions, capabilities and ideas find one another. Members can post a demand, request expertise or describe a specific cooperation need. Other members can respond with technical knowledge, institutional experience, technology, training, financing, or other forms of support. Organizations presenting an offer can likewise identify relevant demands and potential partners. The platform brings needs and capabilities together quickly, visibly, and practically. Members can also discover tested solutions, documented good practices, and the people behind them, research and practical knowledge aligned with their priorities, then adapt, replicate, or scale what works in new contexts. Members can request meetings, join or propose events, participate in communities of practice, and explore funding opportunities, including trust funds managed by UNOSSC. Register, post a demand, offer support, share a solution, discover a good practice, connect with the right partner. The right match can turn knowledge into cooperation and cooperation into impact. Join the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

And now, to formally launch the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, I invite Director Dima Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, to deliver the launch message. Dima, you have the floor.

Thank you, Maher. Excellencies and distinguished colleagues, the video we just watched presents the vision behind the Global Alliance for South-South and triangular cooperation, a world where countries and institutions are better connected and can collaborate, co-create scalable solutions, and can transform shared knowledge and solidarity into measurable development impact. Global trends reveal that development cooperation is increasingly gravitating towards strategic multi-stakeholder alliances centered on mutual benefit, co-creation, and South-South and triangle cooperation to build resilience and accelerate the lagging achievement of the SDGs. References also show that most successful alliances are not transactional. They leverage the complementary strengths of different sectors, combining the financing of sovereign donors, the reach of multilateral institutions, the specialized technology of the private sector, and the trust of local communities to achieve scale. And this is exactly what we aim to achieve with the Global Alliance. We aspire to make the capabilities that already exist and those that are emerging easier to see, easier to understand and easier to mobilize around real needs. And as we approach 2030, greater speed in implementation must go together with better-informed cooperation. Across countries, United Nations, and many other stakeholders, important mechanisms already exist to share knowledge, provide expertise, and mobilize resources and connect partners. The challenge is to make these capacities easier to navigate, better connected, and more responsive to clearly articulated development needs. Our value proposition is to help to connect these efforts, to make country demands more visible, to identify relevant possibilities of support. facilitate connections across institutions, platforms and regions and accelerate the journey from an identified need to a viable partnership. The Global Alliance has been established to provide this connective ecosystem, helping to integrate and facilitate existing efforts, reduce fragmentation and make South-South and triangular cooperation more impactful. It will facilitate, as we saw, the matchmaking between demands and offers, foster communities of practice and policy dialogues, support institutional and technical capacity development and generate evidence and actionable intelligence to strengthen future South-South and triangular cooperation. Allow me to illustrate with one example. A country experiencing the aftermath of a major natural disaster where essential services are disrupted, infrastructure is damaged, and decisions on recovery and rebuilding must be taken quickly. The country needs expertise on resilient infrastructure, early warning system, or restoring essential services. Relevant experiences may already exist in another developing country. A university may have tested an approach. A local innovator may have developed a technology. A development bank or other partners may be able to provide the resources required to adapt and scale the solution. So the challenge is bringing these capabilities together and the country's priorities at the right time and help move the conversation towards a concrete collaboration while complementing national leadership, United Nations country level coordination, and the work of the development partner already on the ground. So we're launching the Global Alliance at a moment when renewed cooperation is urgently needed. The success of it will depend on the active engagement of its participants. Let me thank and acknowledge all the countries and entities that already joined the Global Alliance. Dozens have already joined. And to invite all the member states, institutions, and UN entities to join us today in this endeavor to connect their platforms, their programs, their networks, articulate the different development challenges, demands, and offers for which cooperation could make a difference, and share the expertise, the solution, the technologies, and the resources. So the Global Alliance belongs to its participants. It will grow through their knowledge, innovation, engagement, and commitment to cooperation. And I'm sure that together we can build a more connected architecture for South-South and triangle cooperation. I thank you. Back to you, Mahir.

Thank you, Dima. And now we move to the moderated discussion. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I have the honor to moderate the interactive discussion. And to allow us to hear from as many participants as possible, I kindly ask speakers to observe the agreed time limits, five minutes for groups of countries and three minutes for member states and others. Statements submitted to the secretariat will be made available on the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation website. I now invite the first speaker, the distinguished representative of the Philippines on behalf of the like-minded group of middle-income countries. Your Excellency, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator. Ambassador Benjama, President of ECOSOC, Ambassador El Ali, President of the 22nd Session of the HLC on South-South Cooperation, Ambassador Lasser, Chair of G77 and China, and Director Al-Khatib of the UNOSAC. Good morning. I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Like-Minded Group for Middle Income Countries, or LMG-MICs, composed of Armenia, Belarus, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and my country, the Philippines. The LMG mix is pleased to join today's celebration of the UN Day for South South Cooperation. LMG mix are key partners in advancing SSTC. The group champions the mainstreaming and leveraging of South South and triangular cooperation in the development agenda of the UN. The Makati Declaration adopted at the high level conference of middle income countries in Manila in 2025. reaffirms the important role of South-South and triangular cooperation in addressing development needs of middle-income countries, and identifies the same as one of the substantive priorities in advancing discussions on the Strategic Plan of Action for MICs, or the SPOA. It is in this vein that at this year's High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the LMG MICs collaborated with the UN-OSSC on a side event to advance discussions on the SPOA. Over the past decade, South-South trade and investment have gained significant momentum, with the Mix emerging as pivotal players. This highlights the Mix's important position in the evolving architecture of global trade and deepening connectivity and interdependence. within the global South. Mr. Chair, enabling transition pathways is an endeavor that MICs cannot achieve alone. Hence, the continued cooperation and support of development partners and complementing national development priorities remains crucial. And in this regard, we see value in the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation launched today. For MICs, South-South and triangular cooperation is a framework for mobilizing expertise, resources, and technologies that contribute to the structural transformation of our economies. As we advance work on the elaboration of an SPOA, South-South and triangular cooperation can provide platforms to pursue the various development priorities and goals of the middle-income countries. The Global Alliance can thus serve as a catalyst for global support for the MIX agenda. Looking ahead and amidst multiple challenges, we can leverage the rising solidarity within the context of South-South and triangular cooperation towards climate action, addressing debt challenges, digital transformation, and social protection, which are among the top enablers of sustainable development in the MIX. Furthermore, the positive outlook on South-South trade and investment offers an opportunity for cooperation on productive capacity building, human capital development, and leveraging our diasporas for development. Given their central role in the economic landscape, middle-income countries, working with our partners such as UNOSSC, are well-positioned to drive inclusive, sustainable development through South-South and triangular cooperation. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Philippines, and I invite the representative of Jamaica on behalf of CARICOM as our next speaker. Jamaica.

Thank you so much, Mr. Moderator. I do have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the 14 member states of the Caribbean Community. CARICOM is pleased to join this year's commemoration of the UN Day for South-South Cooperation. The theme, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development, is quite fitting given the current multilateral context. Development cooperation faces severe headwinds from compounding crises, geopolitical tensions, and a record decline in official development assistance. It is through solidarity, inclusivity, mutual respect, and innovation that we can reinvigorate our collective pursuit of sustainable development. We also congratulate the UN Office for South-South Cooperation on the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, which serves as a practical platform for the creation and strengthening of partnerships in support of sustainable development in the Global South. For CARICOM, South-South and triangular cooperation is not merely complementary to traditional modalities of cooperation. It is essential for our long-term development and is critical for the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States. The countries of our region, as well as other SIDS, face the complex interlinked challenges of climate vulnerability, debt sustainability, narrow production bases, and high exposure to exogenous shocks. South-South cooperation and SIDS to SIDS partnerships in particular are uniquely positioned to leverage shared experiences, facilitate coordination and mutually support implementation in a context of regional solidarity to address shared challenges. Member states of CARICOM are increasingly using South-South and triangular cooperation as an avenue to strengthen the region's resilience. Countries are learning from each other's innovations in renewable energy, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable tourism. In the energy sector, for example, the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and the University of the West Indies provide training, knowledge sharing, and capacity building in e-mobility, in regulations and planning workshops, and renewable energy technologies. The CARICOM Hub for the Capacity Building Programme related to multilateral environmental agreements in Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries project and the CARICOM Technical and Scientific Cooperation Centre provides structured capacity building, technical assistance, training and knowledge sharing support to CARICOM member states and institutions to strengthen skills in environmental management priority areas such as biodiversity conservation, negotiations, chemicals and waste management standards, and scientific cooperation. Collaboration among member states ensures that expertise is developed and retained nationally and regionally, and applied within the Caribbean context. Coordinated emergency response mechanisms, shared resources and logistics strengthen the region's resilience against hurricanes and climate shocks. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency exemplifies a best practice model of South-South cooperation that is directly relevant to the implementation of the ABAS. Through established mechanisms for South-South cooperation, CARICOM's relations with traditional and emerging donors, as well as regional blocks of the Global South, continue to deepen collaboration in critical areas. including trade, medicine and healthcare, capacity building, agriculture and food security, sports, renewable energy and climate change, innovation, technology, culture, the ocean economy and maritime security. Countries of the Global South are not merely recipients of development assistance. Through South-South and triangular cooperation, they continue to lead the charge to find transformative solutions for overlapping crises. Today's launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation represents a significant step in facilitating partnerships and strengthening collective action for sustainable development. The future of South-South and triangular cooperation is one of mainstreamed, dynamic and high-impact collaboration, driven by bold ambition and sustained commitment. Let this United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation serve as a moment for the collective renewal of our commitment to solidarity, inclusivity, and innovative development in the Global South. CARICOM stands ready to engage with all partners in shaping a sustainable future that leaves no one behind. I thank you. I.

Thank the distinguished representative of Jamaica. And now I invite the next inscribed speaker, the distinguished representative of Nepal, on behalf of the Group of Least Developed Countries. Your Excellency, you have the floor. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, on behalf of the Group of the LDCs, I wish to express our sincere appreciations to the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation for convening this observance and for its steadfast efforts to advance South-South and triangular cooperation. Excellencies, for the least developed countries, South-South cooperation is not simply an option. It is an increasingly important means of implementation. It enables LDCs to access relevant knowledge, technologies and expertise from countries facing similar development challenges. The development challenges facing LDCs underscores the urgency of accelerating such cooperations. On this, LDC Group warmly welcomes today's launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperations. Its practical, voluntary and demand-driven approach can help connect country identified needs with proven Southern solutions, technical expertise, financing opportunities, and catalytic support. The alliances can reduce transaction costs, facilitate matchmaking, and help move corporations from dialogue to delivery. For LDCs, the value of alliance will ultimately be measured by delivery, whether it helps countries articulate demand, access partners and financing, adapt solutions to national context and scale what it works. We encourage the alliance to place the needs and priorities of LDCs, especially those furthest behind, at the heart of its work. Allow me to highlight four priorities for harnessing South-South and triangular cooperation in support of the least developed countries. First, we must depend technology, innovations, and digital corporations. Partnership in digital infrastructure, stream educations, artificial intelligence, research collaborations, and skill development can help LDCs close digital divides, strengthen national capabilities, and participate more effectively in the digital economy. Second, we must strengthen productive capacities, trade, regional integrations. The rapid expansion of South-South trade creates important opportunities for LDCs. Greater investment in regional value chains, trade facilitations, connectivity, standards, productive upgrading, and e-commerce can help LDCs diversify exports and value, create decent jobs, and build resilience against external shocks. Third, We must expand financing and investment for sustainable development. South-led investment initiatives, regional financing platforms, and triangular partnership can mobilize additional capital and expertise for infrastructure, productive capacities, climate resilience, and economic diversifications. Fourth, we must strengthen institutional capacity and peer learning. Effective cooperations must be demand-driven country one and capable of moving from actions to implementation. Technical assistance, policy exchanges and institutional partnership should help LDCs identify, adapt and scale proven solutions with results that can be sustained nationally. Excellencies, the midterm review of the Doha Programme actions to be held in March 2027 in Doha, Qatar, will provide a critical opportunity to assess progress address implementation gaps and mobilize renewed support for the NDCs. It must produce an ambitious and action-oriented outcome that is strengthen national support and partnership and accelerate implementation during the remainder of the decade. South-South and triangular cooperation should be an important part of this efforts. Excellencies, the spirit of the South-South cooperation is deeply rooted in solidarity, quality, mutual respect and national ownership. At a time of growing uncertainty, that solidarity must translate into practical partnership and measurable results. By connecting solutions, strengthening capacities, and mobilizing innovation and investment, we can accelerate implementations of Doha Program actions and advance the sustainable development goals for those furthest behind. Together, we can turn said challenges into said progress. I thank you.

Thank you. I thank the distinguished representative of Nepal. And I have the honor to welcome His Excellency Mr. Khalilur Rahman, the President of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Guided by the theme, Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation, a United Nations that delivers for all. President Rahman has placed peace and security, accelerated implementation and sustainable development goals, climate resilience, human rights, responsible governance, and of emerging technologies, and United Nations reform at the center of his presidency. South-South and triangular cooperation can help translate these priorities into inclusive, country-owned actions by strengthening trust, sharing solutions, and expanding partnerships. Your Excellency, President, you have the floor.

Thank you, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for your warm welcome and recounting my priorities during this year. It's a great pleasure on my part to join you in commemorating the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. I myself sat in this meeting many times, both as representative of my country and a senior staff member of the United Nations. We gather at a moment of profound transformation and change, as well as challenge. On the one hand, heightened geopolitical and economic competition is creating new barriers to trade, investment, and regional integration that ultimately constrain growth and narrow opportunities for the world economy as a whole, but particularly developing countries. Yet on the other hand, across the global south, a different and more hopeful story is unfolding. According to UNCTAD, trade and investment flows among developing countries have surged over the past three decades. The numbers speak for themselves. Brazil reported the largest single year amount of monetized support, 159 million in 2022. Mexico followed with 43 million disbursed in the same year. On average, 84% of monetized support remained within the region. This dynamism is also seen in the cultural and creative economy, where developing countries doubled their share of global creative goods exports from 10% in 2010 to 20% in 2022. This is not simply a matter of increasing volumes. It reflects a deeper shift. Countries of the South are becoming ever more important trading partners, investors, and engines of global economic dynamism. It reflects the reality that a growing number of countries of the South have moved from the periphery to the center of global development. They are not only shaping their own futures, they are increasingly helping to shape global markets, production networks, innovation, and the solutions required to meet our shared challenges. They are also generating technological solutions that are practical, affordable, and adapted to local realities, from digital public infrastructure and financial inclusion to climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy, and disaster preparedness. These innovations hold immense potential to be shared, adopted, and scaled across the Global South. And as we face a rise in climate and disaster events, we see the real-world benefits of South-South cooperation firsthand. As we see the communities in Nepal and China work through pain and loss to recover from the recent catastrophic flooding, We see it in farmers in Africa seeking solutions to the cycles of drought, parching their fields and starving their livestock. We also see this in the Caribbean islands that face hurricane season with renewed vigilance year after year. Faced with these extreme risks, countries of the South have not surrendered their agency or hope. They reach out a hand and find another reaching back. across southern geographies as a partner in shared resolve. The question before us is how we best can we leverage this solidarity to restore trust and manage transformation to deliver for all, particularly now as many of our sustainable development goals are far off track, but not yet out of reach. Excellencies, we do this by leaning into the support provided to further empower and strengthen South-South and triangular cooperation. This is not the sole mechanism, but it's a very, very important mechanism. I applaud the diligent work of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation and other partners working within the UN Secretariat on South-South cooperation across many fields. I note that the Global Alliance for South-South Triangular Cooperation, launched by the Office, stands as a lighthouse for what is possible when we choose partnership over division. As the President of the General Assembly, I am excited to work with the Office as well as the other parts of the United Nations that promote South-South cooperation. Excellencies, we have an important milestone ahead. In July, the General Assembly agreed the modalities for the 2020 intergovernmental review of the Buenos Aires outcome document. Let us use our time wisely on the road ahead to show in practical terms how South-South and triangular cooperation is advancing best to use through solutions that can be shared, adopted and scaled. I look forward to a very successful 23rd session of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation in 2027, and I thank you for listening. Thank you.

We thank the President of the United Nations General Assembly for his remarks and for highlighting the importance of solidarity and cooperation in advancing our shared priorities. The next inscribed speaker is the distinguished representative of Burundi on behalf of the Africa Group. Your Excellency.

Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Madam Director, it is an honor for me to deliver this statement on behalf of the Africa Group, which Burundi is presiding over this year, a year when my country is also chairing the African Union. We wish to associate ourselves with this statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of the G77 and China. The Africa Group thanks the UN Office for South-South Cooperation for organizing this commemorative event. We commend Director Al-Khatib on the launch of the Global Alliance. This day marks the adoption in 1978 of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action. Over the 48 years that have gone by since it was adopted, Africa has put South-South cooperation into practice as a form of solidarity, from the technical exchanges we had back then all the way through to the Continental Free Trade Area we have today. The theme solidarity rising describes a reality which the African continent knows full well. Madam Director, when you informed the Africa Group in July of the work that's been done, there's one figure that struck us and stayed with us. Out of the over 1000 good practices registered by the office, over 650 came from Africa. At that briefing, the Africa Group brought two asks. We want to ask two things of the Global Alliance. First, for practices to be easily accessible for developing countries. And two, for all technology transfer facilitated by the Alliance, all of that transfer must be conducted according to modalities rooted in a common agreement. We reiterate these two asks today. African member states are currently looking at the invitation to sign up and appoint focal points, national focal points. Inclusive development is something that has very specific meaning in Africa. It means that LDCs and LLDCs, most of which are African countries, should be able to access the platform under the best possible conditions, the same ones as the big economies of the global south. Burundi is speaking as both. It also means that women and young people whose knowledge is the raw materials, the inputs for half of the practices on the directors list for women and young people to be able to fully contribute. Last but not least, it also means predictable funding going beyond one of contributions, as was urged by the high level committee at its 28th session, because a platform can match a solution with a partner. But it is funding that allows for that solution to be deployed at scale. Innovative development. a context where roughly 60% of Africans still don't have African access, starts with connectivity. The Africa Group would welcome an alignment between the Global Alliance's strategic work with the work on the strategic digital transformation of the African Union and its continental AI strategy. so that the partnerships the alliance facilitates can contribute to building African capacity and producing the technologies of the next decade. Madam Director, the African Union has chosen water and sanitation as its theme for this year. There are a few areas which dovetail so naturally, so nicely with South-South cooperation. The hydrology of one basin is inextricably linked to the hydrology of neighbors. Burundi shares Lake Tanganyika with three neighboring countries. Its waterways flow into major hydrological basins across the continent. The African Union would therefore like to see water security be one of the main pillars the Global Alliance works on, together with the African Council of Ministers as a foremost partner. South-South cooperation adds to North-South cooperation. It complements it. The language of Southern solidarity has taken on an increasingly important role in our resolutions over the last few years, as traditional commitments have fallen, and this day is an excellent opportunity to remind us that one cannot entirely replace the other. the 54 member states of the Africa Group will be judging the Global Alliance using one single yardstick, that it gives the communities who've waited far too long what they need. Africa has come to this launch with something to bring to the table. I thank you.

Thank the distinguished representative of Burundi for his statement on behalf of the Africa Group. Now we move to the list of speakers in national capacity, and the first enlisted speaker is the distinguished representative T. Morel-Lest.

Thank you, Mr. Moderator.

Excellency, President of General Assembly, Excellencies, Timor-Leste aligns itself with the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and by Nepal on behalf of the Group of LDCs. We welcome today's observance under the theme, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development, and the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. At a time of widening inequality, diminishing fiscal space, and growing uncertainty, this initiative offers a vital opportunity to translate solidarity into practical cooperation and measurable development outcomes. Developing countries carry approximately $31 trillion in public debt and pay a record $921 billion in interest annually. For many least developed countries and seats, particularly like Timor-Leste, high borrowing costs reduce resources available for health, education, and climate resilience. Accordingly, Timor-Leste encourages the Global Alliance to serve as an action-oriented platform supported by tools such as South-South Galaxy Plus, connecting national priorities with expertise, appropriate technologies, partnerships, and catalytic support. Cooperation should focus on areas where developing countries demonstrate practical innovation, such as climate-resilient agriculture, renewable energy, digital public infrastructure, green entrepreneurship, and public health preparedness. As we approach the comprehensive review of the Buenos Aires Outcome Document, Timor-Leste stresses that South-South cooperation complements other cooperation platforms, such as official development assistance and climate finance, as well as other regional financing platforms. We continue to need an international financial architecture that provides timely debt treatment and criteria that take structural vulnerability into account, rather than income per capita alone. Solidarity must equally strengthen national ownership. The Alliance should facilitate targeted peer learning. technical exchanges, and triangular partnership, including support for countries seeking to modernize tax and customs administrations, develop transparent digital systems, and combat illicit financial flows without placing additional burdens on vulnerable populations. These efforts should bring together governments, United Nations entities, financial institutions, civil society, academia, and the private sector, while keeping national priorities at the center of cooperation. Inclusive and innovative development requires solidarity translated into action, fair financing, stronger national institutions, accessible technology, and practical programs that enable every country to mobilize and manage the resources necessary to determine its own development. Timor-Leste stands ready to share its experience in peacebuilding, institutional building, natural resource governance, and cooperation among its partners, its peers within the UN system. Thank you.

We thank the distinguished representative of Timor-Leste for his statement, and I would just like to note that the interpretation is now extended until the end of the session, 1:00, with thanks to our colleagues in the Department of General Assembly Affairs. I now call on the distinguished representative of Madagascar to speak on national.

Capacity.

Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Madagascar would like to align itself with the G77 and Africa statements. Chair, we live in a fragmented world. Geopolitical crises and tensions are on the rise. We see energy crises, food crises, climate crises. For countries of the South, these are not abstract crises. They directly impact our people, our economies, and our development prospects. This is exactly why South-South cooperation is so important. It gives us an opportunity not to simply face the consequences, but to take action. For Madagascar, South-South cooperation, SCC, is an opportunity to build capacity, to diversify partnerships, but also to share information about our own experience. Because the South is not just a place of vulnerability, it's also a place where we find solutions, creativity and innovation. Madagascar is convinced of this and we have concrete examples thereof. For instance, we have various agricultural systems that we've developed in Madagascar seeking inspiration from Asian and African countries. It shows that a solution crafted in a southern country can address challenges which know no bounds. We are also facing climate challenges and African experiences, for instance, on sustainable soil management, have helped us to build more tailored solutions, tailored to our reality. This reminds us of a key tenet, South-South cooperation should not just be about beneficiaries and donors, it should be partners, a partnership with partners sharing their competencies, their experience, their innovations, partners learning from one another, partners who craft solutions hand in hand. The Global Alliance is therefore particularly timely. For Madagascar, it also means investing in our young people, accelerating technology transfer, beefing up our competencies, and building infrastructure that can underpin this transformation. We shouldn't pit various kinds of cooperation against one another. Triangular cooperation can perhaps help us to pull capabilities and resources from both the North and the South, putting local needs at the heart of these partnerships. This is the very significance of solidarity. In a world that is increasingly divided, let's draw strength from solidarity. As our world changes swiftly, let's harness innovation, make it into a common, shared good. As we face common challenges, let's make SSC a genuine partnership to build more inclusive, more resilient, and fairer development. The South doesn't just have needs, it also has solutions to offer. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Madagascar for her statement. I now call on the distinguished representative of Cuba to speak.

Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, Excellencies, colleagues, we align ourselves with the statement made by Uruguay on behalf of the G77 and China. In the face of increasingly complex and interconnected challenges, no country can advance alone to achieve sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. Colombia believes that the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation is particularly timely in order to connect the needs with solutions for developing countries. Our vocation of solidarity has a more than 60-year-long history. Cuba has trained Tens of thousands of healthcare professionals from other countries, more than 600,000 Cuban collaborators in health, have provided services in 165 countries, particularly in the global south during natural disasters, Ebola outbreaks, and COVID-19. No slanderous campaign can harm our medical cooperation. Despite the brutal limitations imposed by the United States embargo, aggravated by secondary measures and the energy siege that is preventing fuel from entering our country, we will continue to provide the little we have and our capacities to the service of people, their rights to health, education and a decent life. In the midst of an economic chokehold, our biotech sector has produced medication, vaccines and unique treatment, unique in the world to treat cancer, diabetes, and meningitis and other diseases. One of these medications is Neural Sim, which is considered to be one of the safest and most effective drugs to combat Alzheimer's. And we will be presenting it on the 16th of September, International Day of Science, Technology and Innovation for the Global South. These capacities have a vocation of solidarity, and our country will not ask for permission to save lives where required. Experiences like this show that the global south can also bring about its own solutions to tackle common challenges if we collaborate, complement each other, and remain united. We thank all countries that, in one way or another, have shown their solidarity with the Cuban people in the times where we need it the most. We conclude by reiterating that South-South cooperation cannot replace North-South cooperation and that developed countries must fulfill their commitments to development. While we're seeing a slowdown in this, nations of the Global South have a sacred duty to share their knowledge, to develop capacities, and to cooperate in solidarity with one another as the only way of building our own future. Thank you very much.

Thank you, distinguished representative of Cuba, for his statement. And now I invite the distinguished representative of Rwanda to deliver his remarks.

Thank you, excellence chair, distinguished colleagues. We are honored to be here today and to join you all to celebrate South-South cooperation. We thank Ms. Dima Al-Hattib. Director of the United Nations for South-South Cooperation, and her team for their continued work and for convening us on this important occasion. Rwanda aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Mr. Chair, Rwanda salutes the launch of and attaches great importance to South-South and triangular cooperation an important complement to North-South cooperation and a practical means of advancing sustainable development. Its strength lies in enabling developing countries to share knowledge, experiences and solutions based on national priorities, mutual respect and ownership. The growing importance of this cooperation is clear. The Global South today represents roughly 85% of the world's population and 40% of global output. South-South trade has more than doubled since 2007, reaching approximately $5.6 trillion in 2023. This provides a strong basis for further expanding cooperation among developing countries. For Rwanda, this cooperation also has practical meaning. Three decades ago, our country faced the enormous task of rebuilding. Our development journey since then has relied on strong national ownership, homegrown solutions, and partnerships with countries from the South and beyond. Today, Rwanda is pleased to share some of these experiences with other countries while continuing to learn from them. Through the Rwanda Cooperation Initiative, we support exchanges in areas including digital public service delivery and community-based health financing, among others. Since its establishment in 2018, Rwanda has engaged close to 10,000 delegates from across 70 countries. This commitment was also reflected in the inaugural Kigali Convention on South-South and triangular cooperation held this year, which brought together 350 delegates from 45 countries to exchange experiences and explore opportunities for stronger cooperation. Mr. Chair, as we seek to strengthen South-South and triangular cooperation, I would like to emphasize three priorities. First, we need stronger mechanisms to connect countries seeking solutions with those with relevant experiences to share. In this regard, Rwanda welcomes today's launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation and looks forward to its contribution to more practical and results-oriented cooperation.

I thank the distinguished representative of Rwanda for his remarks. And now I invite the distinguished representative of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Thank you very much, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank and express our appreciation to the Office for South and Triangular Cooperation and.

Thank them for their efforts to promote cooperation between countries of the South.

We are honored to participate in this launch, and it is held this year under the theme "Solidarity Rising." This meeting is held at a time when there is a growing need to promote solidarity and exchange experiences and practical solutions and expand partnerships in order to transform challenges into opportunities. The Kingdom believes that South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation is an important source of support for international support and a practical tool to support national priorities of developing countries, while affirming that this cooperation is based on partnership and mutual respect, and it is complementary to North-South cooperation and not a substitute. In this context, our priorities for the Saudi Vision 2030 includes a focus on South-South cooperation in the areas of economy and human development and innovation and sustainability, youth, and with a focus on promoting the role of the private sector. The visioning includes multiple projects and initiatives, and our national fund has supported more than 800 projects and development initiatives in dozens of countries with the total amount of 20 billion U.S. dollars in the areas of infrastructure, energy, agriculture, water, food security, and education. Mr. Chair, the Kingdom welcomes the growing momentum in the South-South cooperation and the efforts aimed at launching the Global Alliance as a platform that brings together states and partners to match needs with solutions. We look forward to the Alliance sharing in promoting our shared goals while respecting national priorities and national ownership. In conclusion, we reaffirm our commitment to work with Member States and the Office on South-South Cooperation and all partners in order to overcome our common challenges and achieve our common purposes. And thank you very much.

The distinguished representative of Saudi Arabia for his remarks. And now I invite the distinguished representative of Brazil to deliver his remarks.

Excellencies, colleagues, this year's theme of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, Solidarity Rising, is particularly timely. Across the global South, countries are increasingly sharing knowledge, adapting successful experiences, and developing their own responses to common challenges. Solutions, expertise, and innovation already exist. Our task is to connect them, strengthen networks, and create the conditions to scale them up. For Brazil, this form of cooperation must remain firmly rooted in solidarity, the right to development, and national ownership. South-South cooperation starts with the priorities identified and implemented by developing countries themselves. This year, we celebrate 20 years of operation of the IBSA Fund, a concrete demonstration that solidarity among India, Brazil, and South Africa can be transformed into demand-driven development results in the Global South. The forthcoming review of the implementation of the second High-Level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation must advance this vision. A member state-driven, inclusive, and forward-looking process will preserve the principles of South-South cooperation while adapting our instruments to a profoundly different international context. We should also be clear about the international environment in which this rising South-South solidarity is taking place. We are witnessing a worrying disengagement from development cooperation by traditional partners. The situation of UNDP is illustrative. Its core contributions fell significantly in 2025 and are expected to continue to fall in 2026. These are precisely the flexible resources that allow the UN development system to respond to the priorities of program countries. Development resources are declining while military expenditures and the costs of conflicts are increasing. We cannot accept a world in which resources for war expand while resources for development contract. So let us work together, global south countries, to reverse this negative trend and to replace cooperation, south-south, triangular, north-south cooperation, at the center of our common efforts towards building a world that is sustainably developed and respectful of human rights. Thank you.

Thank the distinguished representative of Brazil for his remarks and now invite the distinguished representative of South Africa.

Thank you very much for giving me the floor, Chairperson.

My delegation aligns itself with the statements delivered by Burundi and Uruguay on behalf of the G77 and China and the Africa Group, respectively. South-South cooperation is a fundamental tenet of South Africa's foreign policy. We consider South-South cooperation as a strategic framework for developing nations in the global south to achieve economic independence and collective self-reliance through horizontal partnerships, including the exchange of resources, technology, knowledge, and expertise between developing countries of the global south. We salute the role played by the UN in facilitating South-South cooperation and urge the UN to continue playing a central role in collective multilateral efforts to achieve sustainable development, including through support for practical implementation and measuring the value and contribution of South-South cooperation. For our part, in South Africa, we are privileged to be a founding member of the India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation, the IPSA Fund. IPS member states support demand driven, inclusive and scalable development projects in fellow developing countries. We see we've seen tangible outcomes that convince us that through supporting, sharing and learning from each other, we can unlock the immense potential and opportunities that exist in our midst. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fund, and we have much to celebrate. We invite all to join us in marking this significant milestone. which will include an outreach program that we are planning together with the UN Office for South-South Cooperation under the theme, "Three partners, two decades, one shared commitment." Chairperson, permit me to conclude by expressing appreciation to the UN OSSC for its valuable contribution in supporting the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation and in mainstreaming South-South cooperation across the UN system. as well as in effectively administering various funds that facilitate cooperation and development. We also take this opportunity to congratulate and commend the UNO SSC on the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We believe this highly innovative and practical mechanism can contribute to enhancing cooperation, collaboration, and matchmaking between various partners. South Africa remains committed to solidarity, cooperation, and shared prosperity across the Global South. I thank you.

Thank the distinguished representative of South Africa for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of the Republic of the Congo.

Thank you, sir. Congo aligns itself with the statement made by Uruguay and Burundi. We are meeting at a time when poverty, climate change, health crises and inequality in access to technology continue to affect millions of lives. The answer is not less multilateralism, but more solidarity. For the Republic of Congo, this growing solidarity must be inclusive and innovative. First of all, inclusive development means ensuring that each and every person, state or nation has the ability to benefit from economic growth and social progress. in, um, the Congo and in our sub-region, the Congo Basin, which is the planet's second lung, stores carbon, uh, which benefits the whole of humanity while the populations that ensure its preservation are still not, uh, supported enough. Innovation, like the, the path for the future, uh, so, uh, certainly necessary tools to overcome these complex challenges, but they must benefit everyone, produce real capacities that benefit the global south and not just a privileged minority. We need a new global financial architecture where LDCs and SIDS and forest countries have a strong voice and where financing and development is available. This is all the more present for countries that are facing one of the main obstacles to sustainable development, which is the debt crisis. Taking account of youth must be at the very heart of any international reform, and making them key actors in the solution means turning solidarity into a concrete promise for justice, social stability, and shared prosperity. Solidarity must therefore prevent crises as much as it must respond to them. Thirdly, solidarity must produce peace. There can be no development without peace in the Great Lakes region, Sudan and the Middle East without solidarity. We need African solutions to African challenges. To conclude, history has shown that the greatest progress can be achieved when nations and organizations come together around a common goal. A remarkable example of this is COVAX and the Paris Agreement, which are two examples of global partnership that has shown the power of international cooperation in response to global crises. This experience shows that global challenges can be met with global solutions. Let us see solidarity not only as a slogan, but as a conviction, where triangular cooperation can achieve concrete results for all. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Congo. And now I invite the distinguished representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for remarks.

Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates. We celebrate the observance of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation and align with the statement delivered by CARICOM. While the impact of challenges confronting our countries is increasingly shared, this occasion importantly highlights that solutions can also be shared. The Antigua and Barbuda agenda for SIDS, Abbas, recognizes the tremendous potential of South-South and triangular cooperation. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, getting by with a little help from friends has been a pivotal part of our development trajectory. As we seek to accelerate implementation of the 2030 Agenda, there is immense value in the principles of South-South cooperation and the practical expressions of solidarity, partnership, and shared responsibility for survival. Chair, while South-South cooperation remains complementary to and is not a substitute for North-South cooperation and official development assistance, ODA, it is noteworthy that the global South is increasingly connecting expertise, innovation, data, and lived experience to solve interconnected problems that cannot be successfully tackled properly in isolation. Evolving cooperation, including through funds such as the India UN Development Partnership Fund and the India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation, IBSA Fund, contributes to more strategic partnerships from what St. Vincent and the Grenadines benefits. There is mutual learning on disaster preparedness, renewable energy, digital transformation, public health, agriculture, climate resilience, and ocean governance. Regional institutions also aid us in transforming the experience of individual countries into shared Caribbean capacity. Nevertheless, many countries still struggle to find the partners, financing, technology, or institutional capacity needed to adapt a proven solution from pilot to national or regional scale. The launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation therefore provides a much welcome opportunity to address this challenge. We are pleased to be among the first to engage with this initiative and commend the efforts of the UNOSSC. Where the Global Alliance can leverage South-South and triangular cooperation more strategically, this will bridge the gap between identifying development needs and accessing the knowledge, technology, partnerships, and resources required to address them. Chair, knowledge should flow in every direction, and innovation should not be confined by geography. We are committed to supporting all stakeholders for transformative cooperation.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Indonesia to deliver his remarks.

For Indonesia, South-South cooperation is both a proud legacy and an enduring responsibility. More than seven decades ago, the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung gave voice to a conviction that developing countries, through solidarity, mutual respect, and shared purpose, can shape their own pathways to progress. Today, the historic Bandung Spirit must be translated into practical cooperation fit for the challenges of our time. Against this backdrop, allow me to highlight three priorities. First, South-South cooperation must remain demand-driven, nationally owned, and focused on results. Indonesia has continued to strengthen its development cooperation mechanisms and expand partnerships in areas ranging from food security and disaster resilience to digital transformation and sustainable development. Since 2020, These efforts have reached more than 92 partner countries across Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and Caribbean and Latin America, mobilizing over $68 million in support through capacity building, scholarships, expert exchanges, and other forms of targeted development cooperation. Secondly, we must better connect development needs with solutions and scale what works. Through the Emerging Development Partners Initiative, Indonesia has promoted dialogue and peer learning among emerging development partners. We therefore welcome the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation as a practical platform to connect countries with relevant expertise, solutions, and partners, and to help successful initiatives achieve transformative greater impact. Third, South-South cooperation must accelerate the SDGs while amplifying the voice of the global South in shaping development beyond 2030. Developing countries should not only be recipients of development solutions. We are co-creators of knowledge. innovation and development pathways. South-South cooperation must firmly embed the perspectives, experience and solutions of the Global South into the future architecture of international development. To conclude, let us make South-South cooperation not only a manifestation of solidarity, but an increasingly powerful instrument

I thank the distinguished representative of Indonesia for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Senegal to deliver his remarks.

Thank you, Your Excellency. Ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, we'd like to align ourselves with the statement delivered by the delegation on behalf of the Africa Group and on behalf of the G77 and China. We would also like to thank the UN Office for South-South Cooperation. Thank you for...

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For convening this day. We wish to commend the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We'd like to underscore just how relevant the theme is, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development. It's particularly topical as developing countries are facing major complex multifaceted development challenges. We are less than four years away from the 2030 deadline and despite remarkable headway on education, health, access to drinking water, despite all of the above, on the whole progress remains insufficient. This difficult backdrop is exacerbated by various factors: the drop in FDI from rich countries, the drastic cut to ODA, as well as the debt burden. Given these equations, given the pressing needs of growing populations, developing countries, the countries of the global South, need now more than ever mechanisms for innovative and effective cooperation capable of supporting and continuously accelerating their development processes, all the while reducing their endogenous and exogenous vulnerabilities. South-South cooperation, driven by the fundamental principles of solidarity, equality and mutual benefit, clearly emerges as a key instrument, a credible lever. Indeed, every community, every country, every continent has the capital, the know-how, the experience, the innovation, which are vectors of potential opportunity and catalysts of progress. Mr. Moderator, in light of the above, my delegation would like to welcome the positive South-South cooperation we've seen over the last few years, in particular on trade and investment. As for Senegal, we attach particular importance to this form of cooperation in our foreign policy, both within Africa and at the global level. Thus, with support from bilateral partners, we've implemented structural and ambitious projects in particularly important areas, strategic areas such as industry, trade, digital, telemedicine, and the energy transition. Furthermore, at the subregional level, the Senegal River Basin Development Authority organization, which brings together other member states such as the brotherly nations of Mali, Mauritania and Guinea, can be viewed as a successful model of South-South cooperation in many respects. Nevertheless, SSC cannot genuinely contribute to achieving the expected results unless we overcome the challenges we face, for instance, the lack of long-term financing, the lack of physical and digital infrastructure, the list goes on. We remain convinced that initiatives

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I thank the distinguished representative of Senegal for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Mali for his remarks.

Your Excellency, you have the floor.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, I would like to thank the Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation and her team. Thank you for all of your hard work. We encourage you to continue in the same vein. My delegation aligns itself with the statements delivered on behalf of the Africa Group and the G77 and China. Mali is particularly pleased to be taking part in this commemoration of the day for SSC. We wish to bolster Our solidarity under the theme solidarity, rising global alliance for inclusive and innovative development, given the myriad challenges we face. We are called upon to strengthen solidarity and partnerships between countries of the South. Given the many crises we face, solidarity and SSC are without a doubt the way to reshape the global development architecture. Triangular and South-South cooperation play a key role in achieving the SDGs. Southern countries would benefit greatly from integrating or mainstreaming through their development policies, for instance, experience sharing and innovation, so that we can create new partnerships. The United Nations Cooperation Framework increasingly factors in triangular and South-South cooperation. It's a strategic tool to help us to implement our national priorities in the sustainable development sphere. I'd like to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to the India-UN Partnership Fund and IPSA Fund. Thank you for your unswerving commitment to South-South cooperation that's tangible, that stands in solidarity and brings concrete results. In particular, we commend the project implemented in my country, in the Malinda area in particular. Water or hydraulic systems were improved, women were empowered, community farms were made more resilient to climate change, and solar was increasingly used in the agricultural sphere. Mali faces various security challenges. This has been the case for decades. This has threatened our population, in particular women and young people, undermined climate resilience and community resilience as well. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Mali for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of the State of Palestine for his remarks. You have the floor, Excellency.

The State of Palestine aligns itself with the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and is honored to participate in the commemoration of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. For the countries of the Global South, South cooperation is rooted in our shared history, common aspirations, and collective commitment to a more equitable and sustainable international order. It provides an important platform for exchanging knowledge, strengthening national capacities, and building partnerships in areas including education, health, technology, innovation, and sustainable development. We commend the role of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation in facilitating these partnerships and advancing shared priorities. Palestine believes that South-South cooperation is not only an opportunity to benefit from the solidarity and expertise of our partners, for which we are grateful, but also a responsibility to contribute. Despite the profound challenges facing the State of Palestine, which for obvious reasons that you all know, since the war of you know, extermination of the Palestinian people. So since these challenges that we are facing, Palestine and its people, we remain committed to sharing our knowledge and expertise and to strengthening resilience and sustainable development across the global south. Through the Palestinian International Cooperation Agencies, Palestine has engaged in cooperation in agriculture and food security, science and technology, health, and technical capacity building. The State of Palestine built many partnerships with countries of the South in this regard. These partnerships demonstrate that South-South cooperation is grounded in solidarity, mutual learning, and shared responsibility. They also reflect Palestine's continued commitment to contributing to the development of fellow countries of the Global South, even in the face of profound challenges that the State of Palestine is facing, and the Palestinian people as well. As we commemorate this UN Day, Palestine renews its call for stronger South-South partnerships, greater knowledge sharing, and enhanced international cooperation to accelerate sustainable development and address equitable effect, inequalities affecting the global south.

I thank the distinguished representative of State of Palestine for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of the Federated States of Micronesia.

Thank you, moderator. Micronesia is honored to join this year's observance of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. The theme, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development, captures a truth that resonates deeply with small island developing states. Our challenges are shared, and our solutions must be shared as well. As we mark this UN Day for South-South Cooperation, Micronesia affirms its commitment to strengthening partnership, sharing solutions, and contributing to collective progress. The message of this day is clear. When countries work together, everyone benefits. Micronesia also welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, a platform that will help countries connect solutions strengthen partnership, and accelerate progress. Across the Global South, solidarity is rising. Countries are exchanging knowledge, adapting proven approaches, and scaling innovation that improves lives. This momentum is emerging despite a difficult global landscape, one marked by rising debt burdens, climate-related disasters, rapid digital transformation, and widening uncertainty. For Micronesia, climate change remains an existential concern, threatening the security, livelihoods, and resilience of our communities. In such a context, South-South cooperation is indispensable. Our own experience demonstrates the value of this approach. Micronesia expresses its deep appreciation to India for the UN Development Partnership Fund, whose support exemplifies the spirit of solidarity, shared progress, and genuine partnership. The fund has implemented projects in Micronesia and countries around the world, reflecting the expanding reach and global and impacts of Global South cooperation. In Micronesia, we benefit from a suite of initiatives under the India-UN Development Partnership Fund that advances nationally identified priorities and deliver practical people-centered results. These efforts support our transition to clean energy, strengthen climate preparedness, reinforce inclusive institutions and gender equality, and expand access to essential health services across our islands. Together, they reflect the spirit of South-South cooperation by translating shared experience

thank the distinguished representative of the Federated States of Micronesia for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of China for his remarks. You have the floor, Your Excellency.

Thank you, Excellencies. China associates itself with a statement made by Uruguay on behalf of G77 and China and commends UNOSSC for its efforts to promote the development of the Global South at present. Progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda is lagging, with the gap in development widening. Meanwhile, with the collective rise of the Global South, South-South cooperation is thriving. I would like to make three points. It is imperative to uphold unity and self-reliance and deepen South-South cooperation. Countries of the Global South face a common task of socio-economic development. We must adhere independence, ownership, equality, and mutual benefit, leverage the strengths of South-South cooperation in capacity building and knowledge sharing, and form synergy in development. As a longstanding member of the global South, China welcomes the continued expansion of the mechanisms and platforms for South-South cooperation, which we hope will continue to be led by developing countries and driven by needs, and will produce fruitful results. It is necessary to prioritize development and narrow the North-South gap. The international community should bring development back to the center of the UN agenda to enable equal participation of developing countries in international cooperation and ensure their fair share in development gains. South-South cooperation is a useful complement to, not a substitute for, North-South cooperation. Developed countries should take seriously the real needs of developing countries, honor ODA commitments in earnest, and lend more support in funding technology and capacity building. It is important to uphold multilateralism and promote mutual benefits and win-win outcomes. The UN is a core platform for countries to share development benefits. Since China launched the Global Development Initiative five years ago, more than 23 billion US dollars have been mobilized and over 1,800 cooperation projects carried out. China has been a longstanding voluntary contributor to both the UN Office and the UN Fund for South-South Cooperation. In addition, together with the UN, we have set up the China-UN Global South-South Development Facility, providing 10 million US dollars in budgetary support. The call for project proposals has received enthusiastic response, while the future implementation will bring more tangible benefits to the relevant countries. China has always been a steadfast supporter to an active participant in and an important contributor to South-South cooperation. We stand ready to work with all parties to deepen solidarity and collaboration and join hands to create an even brighter future for the Global South. Thank you.

Thank you, Your Excellency. Thank you, the distinguished representative of China, for his remarks. And now I call the distinguished representative of Peru for his remarks. Your Excellency.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Moderator. My delegation aligns itself with what was said by the G77 and China and the LMG mix group. We welcome this opportunity to reassert the value of cooperation between developing countries so that we can make headway towards our common objective of sustainable development. South-South cooperation, SSC, is of growing importance today. It's a way for countries to share capacity, experience and solutions that are homegrown. And this in an international context characterized by growing challenges and a drop in funding. Against this backdrop, we applaud the launch of the Global Alliance for SSC and Triangular Cooperation. We are delighted to announce that we will be rallying behind this important initiative. Peru is a middle-income country.

And we are making this a tool of our foreign policy, enabling us to build solutions that are tailored to the realities and needs of developing countries, preserving the horizontality of it, national ownership, mutual benefit and respect for national priorities and without conditions. What's more, Peru maintains South-South cooperation relationships with 17 different countries and partners and has strong programs with 10 of them. For 2026, we plan to engage in 39 different plans in areas like the environment, agriculture, health, tourism, science and technology, and management of the risk of disasters. What's more, the Peruvian plan for international technical cooperation 2025 to 2026 brings together 50 different successful experiences that allows us to share lessons learned and innovative solutions with our partners. Through this exchange, Peru does not only share its development experience, but also consolidates relationships of trust and strengthens the technical and political links. in regional and international spaces. Peru stands ready to contribute actively to this alliance, sharing its experiences and learning from the experiences of other partners with a view to translating our knowledge and capacities into concrete actions for cooperation for sustainable development. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Peru for his remarks, and now I call on the distinguished representative of Thailand for their remarks.

Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Thailand aligns itself with the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. At this challenging time, what South-South cooperation needs more of in order to progress is greater solidarity among developing countries, underpinned by concrete cooperation and sharing experiences. South-South cooperation must also remain demand-driven, nationally owned, and guided by the principles of respect for national sovereignty, equality, non-conditionality and mutual benefit. And it should complement rather than substitute for North-South cooperation and the fulfilment of existing development commitments. Thailand has been a strong supporter of South-South cooperation. Through our Thailand International Cooperation Agency, we have worked closely with development partners from every continent across the Global South to advance the 2030 Agenda. In particular, we attach great importance to SDG 17, partnership for the goals. And in this respect, we've been sharing knowledge, best practices, and expertise to support capacity building and human resource development in developing countries through training programs and scholarships which have been provided to fellows from the global south, including countries in special situations. Thailand is also pleased to have joined the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and we hope that this platform will further strengthen solidarity in development cooperation. We look forward to actively contributing to the Alliance and exploring further cooperation with UNOSSC and other partners. And indeed, since 2018, we have also partnered with ESCAP through the Asia-Pacific Directors general for South-South and triangular cooperation to provide a platform to exchange experiences, identify common priorities, and help shape regional development. Going forward, we encourage stronger knowledge sharing, capacity building and technology cooperation, supported by adequate and predictable resources. The UN development system, particularly the UN OSSC, should continue to facilitate partnerships while responding to the priorities and specific circumstances of developing countries. Thailand reaffirms its unwavering commitment to South-South and triangular cooperation that delivers tangible benefits, responds to the priorities of developing countries, and leaves no one.

Behind.

I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Thailand for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of India to deliver her remarks.

Thank you, Chair. India is pleased to join the international community in commemorating the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation and aligns with the statement made by G77. For India, South-South cooperation is an expression of solidarity among equals. It is founded on respect for national ownership, sovereignty, development priorities, and guided by the principles of demand-driven cooperation, mutual benefit, and partnership without conditionalities. As India progresses, our endeavor is to see that the fruits of prosperity are well distributed among partners in the developing world. To implement this vision, India has established the India UN Development Partnership Fund in 2017 with a commitment of $150 million, which embodies these principles in action. Working with the United Nations system, the fund has allocated approximately $75 million to 94 projects across 64 countries with particular attention to LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS. The geographical spread and the category of beneficiary states is evenly distributed amongst the Asia Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the SIDS. Jointly with Brazil and South Africa under the IPSA fund, we are also working on poverty and hunger alleviation programs. These funding mechanisms respond directly to priorities identified by partner countries. From climate resilience and early warning systems to renewable energy, from healthcare and food security to education, livelihoods, women's empowerment, and digital transformation, our objective remains simple: to support countries in developing solutions suited to their own circumstances and aspirations. With 69 projects already completed, the results are available for everyone to see. India believes that development cooperation must strengthen capacities rather than create dependencies. Our experience demonstrates that relatively modest but catalytic investments when nationally owned and locally implemented can generate sustainable and replicable development outcomes. This is the guiding mantra for us. India, therefore, welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, providing an overarching platform where member states interact with service providers to choose appropriate multinational agencies from a whole gamut of industry leaders. This is an opportunity to connect development needs with proven solutions, expertise, technology, and partnerships across the Global South. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Your Excellency, for your remarks. I now call on the distinguished representative of the Russian Federation to deliver his remarks.

Mr. Moderator, distinguished colleagues, last year, we saw the biggest drop in cumulative official development assistance since 1961. Without a doubt, the so-called developed countries are placing their narrow self-serving interests and creeping militarization above their own commitments on funding development. We insist that for the West, assistance to developing countries is not simply charity they're engaging in. This is their payment for centuries of colonialism, the reason for today's inequality. Nonetheless, Objective reality compels us to look for innovative tools for assisting development, for instance, South-South cooperation and triangular partnerships. The Russian Federation supports the basic principles on which such cooperation is founded, including ensuring that we build countries' potential to develop independently, and this via exchange of experience and technologies. with due regard for these countries' needs. Annually, we allocate roughly $1 billion in assistance to developing countries. And in fact, a significant portion of these funds is funneled towards triangular cooperation projects involving UN system bodies. Jointly with the UNOSSC, we are implementing projects in areas such as health, sustainable agriculture, and this in Central Asia and the Sahel. We are delighted to have already received positive feedback from our partners. It is equally important to develop the potential of home-grown integration bodies. Simply copy-pasting supposedly universal Western practices does not work. On the contrary. Combining national experience and best regional initiatives can qualitatively shore up local economies and give impetus to their sustainable development. One such successful integration project is the Eurasian Economic Union. In this year alone, we've launched a supranational mechanism providing financial support to industrial projects. programs are being funded by the Eurasian Development Bank. Strengthening South-South cooperation and triangular partnerships is the way to achieve the SDGs and towards building a just multipolar world. We intend to continue to stay the course together with countries of the Global South, ensuring that they become genuinely self-sufficient and grow sustainably. On this note, we welcome the launch of the Global Alliance on South-South Cooperation and Triangular Cooperation. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Russian Federation, and I now call on the distinguished representative of Singapore to deliver remarks.

Thank you, Chair. Singapore thanks the UN Office for South-South Cooperation for convening today's commemoration and welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. South-South cooperation is no longer at the margins of the development landscape. Its strength lies in sharing practical solutions grounded in common experiences and adapted to local needs. Our recent adoption of the modalities resolution for the review of the implementation of the Buenos Aires outcome document renews this political momentum for South-South cooperation. For Singapore, capacity building remains the cornerstone of our development partnerships. Through our flagship technical cooperation platform, the Singapore Cooperation Programme, we have trained more than 165,000 officials from over 180 countries, territories and intergovernmental organisations in public administration, sustainable finance and digital governance, as well as in emerging domains of interest such as artificial intelligence and carbon credits. Beyond the transfer of knowledge between fellow developing countries, we should also see South-South cooperation as partnerships that facilitate job creation, strengthen connectivity, expand access to markets and finance, and support sustainable growth. For example, the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks and Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone bring government and businesses together to attract investments, develop industries, create jobs, enabling mutual benefit. Such cooperation need not be confined to governments. Public agencies, businesses, academia, and civil society each contribute expertise, investment, technology, and ideas. Concessional resources alone will not suffice. Used catalytically, they can make projects bankable and crowd in private capital at scale. Triangular cooperation can further connect developing country solutions with complementary partners while preserving national ownership. We should also deepen exchanges across regions, including through cooperation between regional organisations. Singapore will continue to play our part, including through our renewed partnership with the UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development. Earlier this month, we also announced the next phase of the Singapore Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing package, as well as the renewal of our Seeds of Change package for fellow Small Island Developing States. We look forward to the Global Alliance taking these efforts further, connecting needs with proven solutions, and helping what works in one community reach many more. Solidarity is our inheritance. Turning it into practical progress will be our task. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Singapore for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Uruguay to deliver her remarks.

Moderator, distinguished colleagues, I'm taking the floor on national capacity. Our country is celebrating this day as an opportunity to reaffirm the strategic value of South-Southern triangular cooperation and its contribution to sustainable development in an international context marked by multiple crises, profound transformations, and new needs for development, it is essential to strengthen innovative cooperation mechanisms that enable us to harness the capacities, knowledge and solutions that come from the global south itself. South-south cooperation is not only a way of cooperating internationally, it is also an approach based on horizontal relationships with solidarity and mutual benefit that promotes the exchange of knowledge, public policy, technology and solutions that are tailored to different realities. Uruguay's experience shows the concrete value of this approach. Our country shares capacities and experiences in areas such as air quality, environmental management, digital transformation, education, as well as public digital infrastructure and information, science, technology and innovation, health and agro fisheries development. For example, Uruguay has shared with Guatemala its technical monitoring capacities and air quality and with Chile digital solutions for older persons with Mexico projects in science and technology including healthcare and measures applied to solutions for agro fisheries we are engaged in south-south cooperation and we are a receiver country and partner in cooperation and knowledge flows in all directions. They help with our capacities and also help us to incorporate new lessons learned. A challenge that we face is the fragmentation of the cooperation ecosystem. There are many initiatives, platforms and stakeholders, but they are not sufficiently connected to one another. We therefore need to bring about better synergy between regional and subregional mechanisms and national institutions and international bodies. Uruguay particularly welcomes the announcement today of the Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We announce our decision to join this initiative. We believe that this voluntary platform can contribute to connecting stakeholders to bring about networks of knowledge, to contribute to good practices and facilitate alliances going above and beyond the simple exchange of experiences to boosting capacities. with different stakeholders and initiatives, and we wish to contribute actively to this initiative and the alliance promoting, um, the ecosystem of South-South and triangular cooperation, expanding its scope and looking for new avenues for cooperation. Thank you very much.

Distinguished representative of Uruguay for her remarks, and now I call on the distinguished representative of Bangladesh to deliver their remarks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Bangladesh comments even OESSC for convening this event on the occasion of South-South Cooperation Day 2026. We value South-South cooperation as a means of advancing inclusive and sustainable development. As developing countries face interconnected challenges, economic uncertainty, inequality, climate change, technological divides, and financing constraints, by sharing ideas, experiences, and innovative solutions among themselves, they can better leverage their collective strengths, maximize development gains, and address shared challenges. In this context, Bangladesh also supports a more responsive and inclusive international financial architecture that better reflects and addresses the needs and priorities of developing countries. However, let me also emphasize that South-South cooperation is not a substitute but a complementary to the North-South cooperation. Excellencies, the global South is no longer merely a recipient of ideas, innovations, and solutions. It is now a source of them. Bangladesh's experience demonstrates the value of South-South cooperation. We have both benefited from and contributed to partnerships in public health, food security, poverty reduction, disaster risk reduction, climate resilience, and social development, and remain committed to sharing our proven and scalable solutions with other developing countries. Our renewed solidarity must place innovation at its heart. We must make concerted efforts through South-South cooperation to address the widening digital and technological divide and ensure that developing countries are adequately prepared, equipped, and empowered to harness emerging technologies. Digital and green technologies can accelerate development, but only if access to technology, finance, and expertise is equitable. We therefore call for stronger international cooperation to bridge digital and technological divides and ensure that innovation benefits all. Bangladesh views the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda as a shared framework for translating South-South solidarity into tangible results. As we approach 2030, stronger cooperation, policy coordination and collective action are essential to accelerate implementation. Regional and interregional initiatives, knowledge sharing and research partnerships can further advance cooperation among developing countries. As we embark on the UN80 reform process and other efforts to strengthen the United Nations system, we call for ensuring that South-South cooperation remains adequately supported and that the UN Office for south cooperation is provided with predictable and sustainable resources. I thank you all.

I thank the distinguished representative of Bangladesh for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Costa Rica.

Thank you, moderator. Costa Rica is grateful for the organization of this meeting and welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation as an initiative that can contribute to connecting the development priorities of our countries with knowledge, solutions, and new strategic alliances. Costa Rica reaffirms its commitment to South-South and triangular cooperation as essential tools to accelerate sustainable development and respond to the structural gaps of our countries. Our experience shows that GDP does not fully reflect development. Achieving the category of high income does not eliminate vulnerabilities, inequalities or the need to cooperate. Development does not end when the income classification changes, and that's why we should not automatically end international cooperation when countries reclassify. In this regard, we reiterate three messages. First of all, we need Cooperation architecture that recognises vulnerabilities and access to concessional financing, technical cooperation and strengthening capacities must consider multidimensional criteria and not GDP exclusively. Secondly, we must strengthen national capacities. Cooperation requires adequate and predictable resources. strong institutions and mechanisms that enable us to turn knowledge into concrete and measurable results. Costa Rica demonstrates that this cooperation works. We have shared experiences with Colombia in conservation and restoration of forests and development and exchanges in Sustainable coffee production with El Salvador, our cooperation has contributed to protocols to combat forest fires and atmospheric threats, as well as the strengthening of social policies. Third, we must democratize knowledge and innovation. South-South cooperation must enable a solution developed in one country to be adapted and tailored and used by another country, avoiding technological gaps becoming new frontiers for inequality. All countries have the ability to share, and we all have needs to be met. Moderators, south-south and triangular cooperation complement and do not replace north-south cooperation. They must support development transformations, respond to vulnerabilities and turn solidarity into lasting capacities that enable our countries to advance towards more resilient and sustainable growth.

Thank the distinguished representative of Costa Rica for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of El Salvador for their remarks.

Thank you very much, moderator, excellencies, distinguished delegates. El Salvador recognizes South-South and triangular cooperation as practical tools for sharing proven solutions, strengthening national capacities, and advancing country-led development priorities. El Salvador has strengthened its cooperation architecture through the El Salvador Agency for International Cooperation, consolidating its dual role as a provider and recipient. Our international cooperation strategy in this regard aligns partnerships with national priorities in social well-being, security, and effective government and economic revitalization. In June this year, El Salvador presented its updated catalog of South-South cooperation offerings, comprising 34 good practices from 19 public institutions. This makes El Salvador's experience available in areas including road safety, social protection, health, and economic innovation to other partners. In 2026, we established five bilateral programs comprising 32 projects. recovery projects with regional partners. Regionally, El Salvador has served as vice president of the regional conference on South-South cooperation, and this is contributing to the development of tools for evaluating cooperation results. These efforts underpin our broader message, that is that South-South and triangular cooperation complement but do not replace North-South cooperation or official development assistance. Middle income countries continue to face structural challenges that cannot be measured through income per capita alone. El Salvador therefore welcomes in this regard the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We believe that its value should lie in connecting country defined needs with relevant southern solutions and catalytic partners, avoiding duplication and making results and lessons visible. We stand ready to contribute our cooperation offer to learn from partners and develop new country-owned initiatives through the Alliance. On this day, El Salvador reaffirms its commitment to cooperation that turns shared experience into practical and measurable progress. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of El Salvador for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Kenya for their remarks.

Chair, Excellencies and Distinguished Delegates, on this momentous occasion of celebrating United Nations South-South cooperation, Kenya aligns with the statement made by G77 and China. The theme, "Solidarity Rising: Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development", draws on our collective and shared experiences, innovation and ingenuity. Kenya believes that South-South and triangular cooperation provide a practical pathway. For our own experience, we can say from renewable energy to climate smart agriculture, to digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion, we have learned from our partners and adapted solutions to our national circumstances, and in turn, shared experience with countries across Africa and beyond. Our experience with digital innovation, particularly, has demonstrated how technology, when combined with appropriate institutions and inclusive policies, can expand access to financial services, public services, and the lessons that we have drawn should not be only used as a model, but can be adapted and improved and scaled across context. Kenya also welcomes the proposed Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation as an opportunity for connecting solutions with countries that need them. such like mobilizing expertise and facilitating partnership and scaling proven innovation. For the Alliance to deliver its full potential, a principle such as ownership, access, and scale will make it successful. Innovation should not only remain isolated in success stories. We need stronger links between governments, United Nations, development banks, and private sector, inclusively also in academia and civil society. Kenya also emphasizes that South-South cooperation cannot replace the international commitments and systemic reforms required to address structural inequalities in the global economy. Developing countries need predictable and affordable financing and greater technology access, capacity building, and more representative international financial and multilateral system. As we look forward towards the future of South-South cooperation, Kenya calls for renewed compact-based partnership, knowledge sharing, and mutual benefit. And Kenya stands ready to work with member states, United Nations, and all partners for the global alliance for South-South and triangular cooperation as a platform. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Kenya for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Mauritania.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Madam Director of the United Nations Office of South-South.

Cooperation, Mr. President of the General Assembly, Mr. President of the Economic and Social Council, Excellencies, distinguished delegates.

Let me begin by thanking the United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation for convening us on this important occasion. My delegation aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. It also aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the African Group.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates.

We met under the theme that captured the moment precisely, solidarity is rising.

And it's rising not out of a sentiment, but out of necessity and out of proven results.

The figures speaks for themselves. South-South trade reached $7.2 trillion last year from a baseline of half a trillion in '95.

More than half of all exports from developing countries are now destined for other developing countries. Investment flows among us have quadrupled since the 90s, and our share of global foreign direct investment has risen from 9% to 32%. The Global South today generates more than 40% of global economic output. These are not marginal shifts, they are reordering where solutions come from. Yet, we would be failing on this occasion if we spoke only of progress. Developing countries paid a record of $921 billion to serve external debt in 24. 3.4 billion people, nearly half of the humanity. lives in countries that spend more on interest payment than on health, on education, on no amount of South-South solidarity can substitute for the systemic reform of international financial architecture. My delegation welcomes the launch today of Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. and stand ready to engage constructively so that South-South and triangular cooperation are recognized for they have become.

I thank the distinguished representative of Mauritania for his remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Ethiopia.

Thank you, moderator. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, my delegation is pleased to join this discussion as we commemorate the UN Day for South-South Cooperation. Mr. Moderator, it's also the first day of Ethiopian New Year today. We appreciate the organizers and the leadership for convening this important discussion. We align ourselves to the statement delivered by Uruguay on behalf of Group of 77 and China. Mr. Moderator, Ethiopia has successfully hosted the African Regional Ministerial Mid-Term Review of the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs in Addis Ababa this week, together with partners, reaffirming our commitment to strengthening South-South cooperation and advancing collective efforts to address the development priorities of LDCs. in the backdrop of complex global challenge partnerships that foster mechanisms for economic diversification, industrial development, technology transfer, and capacity building are pathways for resilience. Our development experience underlines the value of this approach. Ethiopia has benefited greatly from the experience of fellow countries from the Global South. At the same time, we have sought to share our own experience. So, Mr. Moderator, with our Green Legacy Initiative launched in 2019, we have planted over 50 billion seedlings to date. What began as a national effort to address environmental degradation and climate vulnerability has grown into a broader development experience, linking environmental restoration with climate resilience, food security, and community mobilization. Similarly, Ethiopia's effort to strengthen agricultural productivity, food security, and renewable energy demonstrates the importance of development approach that respond to our specific national circumstances while contributing to shared global objectives of realizing sustainable development. We are also investing in digital transformation and innovation, including through our Digital Ethiopia 2030 with objective to harnessing technology, expanding access to services so that we accelerate development, inclusive development. As we look ahead, we therefore need to make South-South cooperation complement and reinforce the other multilateral development systems. In conclusion, Mr. Moderator, Ethiopia reiterates its strong commitment to advancing South-South and triangular cooperation, where our partnership translates into lasting development outcomes. Ethiopia stands ready to continue learning from its partners while sharing its own experience. I thank you, Mr. Moderator.

Distinguished representative of Ethiopia for his remarks and wish you a happy. And now I call on the distinguished representative of the Republic of Sudan to deliver her remarks. The microphone is not on yet.

The moderator, excellencies, at the outset, Sudan aligns itself with the statements delivered on behalf of the G77 and China, African and LDCs group, and would like to add the following remarks in its national capacity. Excellencies, Sudan is honored to address this gathering and the launching of the Global Alliance for South and Triangular Cooperation. Also, we extend our sincere appreciation to the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation for guiding and implementing this initiative. Joining this alliance reflects Sudan's firm conviction that South-South cooperation is an indispensable pillar of international development. It complements rather than replaces North-South cooperation, serving as a vital expression of solidarity among the nations of the Global South. This partnership is deeply anchored in shared experience and guided by national sovereignty, ownership, equality, and mutual benefits. Excellencies, as a voluntary and a demand-driven platform, the Global Alliance offer immediate value to Sudan during this sensitive phase of its national recovery, economic stabilization, and post-war reconstruction. Therefore, we note with appreciation the Alliance focus on matchmaking, strategic knowledge exchange, and specialized expertise, which connects Sudan's country driven needs with the vast pool of resources, technology, and solutions across the global south. And to leverage these opportunities effectively, Sudan is actively enhancing its internal mechanisms and institutional readiness through formulating a dedicated national coordinating body tasked to transform national priorities into actionable, high-quality project proposal tailored for south-south financing and knowledge sharing. Excellencies, while Sudan and many African nations continue to face structural challenges ranging from financing gaps to climate vulnerabilities, we see immense potential in regional integration, which can be achieved only through active participation. Therefore, Sudan remains fully committed to advancing South-South cooperation as a practical force for long-term development, resilience, and recovery. this cooperation has always been a backbone of support for the country, particularly at a moment when traditional financing channels have proven insufficient, reflected in many successfully implemented projects through IPSA, China, and India, and other related South-South funds. In conclusion, Sudan reaffirms its readiness to engage constructively in the dialogue and the communities convened through the alliance and to work with other partners to co-develop initiatives that deliver real, scalable impact for our people, assuring that no country is left behind. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Sudan for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Portugal to deliver her remarks.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, we would like to thank the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation and its Director for convening us and for the continued leadership in advancing South-South and triangular cooperation. This year's theme reflects a fundamental reality, as highlighted by other speakers, The increasing challenges we face today are shared ones. So today, we celebrate, recognize, and recommit to the fact that only through cooperation and solidarity across countries and regions can we successfully overcome the joint challenges we face. Portugal is firmly committed to deepening South-South cooperation because it is grounded in shared aims, national ownership, mutual respect, and benefit. Furthermore, triangular cooperation acts as a strategic bridge, connecting partners, combining complementary expertise and resources, and scaling up locally-led solutions. At a time of constrained financing and growing geopolitical uncertainty, these partnerships are more necessary than ever. South-South and triangular cooperation do not replace traditional development cooperation. However, they complement and strengthen it by broadening the range of expertise, knowledge, and capacities available to advance the SDGs. It is therefore with great pleasure that I announce Portugal's decision to join the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We stand ready to engage and actively contribute through Camoes, our Institute for Cooperation and Language, to help implement practical and measurable results. Our decision builds on a longstanding national commitment. Through the triangular cooperation window of the United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation and the Portugal Latin America Africa Triangular Cooperation Fund, Portugal has supported concrete interregional partnerships in areas such as sustainable ocean governance and the blue economy. Portugal continues also to work closely with UN, OSSC and the OECD to strengthen the evidence base for triangular cooperation. We invite you all to the 10th International Meeting on Triangular Cooperation, on shaping the next decade of triangular cooperation from evidence to impact, which will be held in Lisbon in October this year. The meeting will aim to draw lessons from the past decade and, more importantly, to identify how we can make triangular partnerships more effective, inclusive and responsive to countries' priorities. Portugal looks forward to continue working with all partners to transform solidarity into cooperation and cooperation into lasting development. I thank you.

Thank the distinguished representative of Portugal for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Zambia.

Thank you, Chair Persson. Zambia aligns itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. We thank the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation for convening this important commemoration and for launching the Global Alliance for South-South Cooperation. This year's theme, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development, is particularly timely. At a time of economic uncertainty, climate pressures, debt vulnerabilities, and widening technological divide, solidarity among developing countries is not merely desirable. It is indispensable. South-South cooperation enables developing countries to share knowledge, expertise, technology and practical solutions grounded in our own development experiences. For Zambia, it remains an important means of advancing national priorities, including in agriculture, renewable energy, digital innovation, public service delivery, and climate resiliency. As both a least developed country and land locked developing country, Zambia particularly values cooperation that strengthen productive capabilities, facilitates technology transfer, supports infrastructure developments, and expands access to financing and markets. Our ambition must be to enable developing countries to move beyond being recipients of technology and knowledge to becoming innovators, producers, and partners in generating solutions for sustainable development. In this regard, Zambia welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation as a practical mechanism for connecting country-identified development needs with solutions, expertise, technology, partnerships, and catalytic support available across the Global South and beyond. We encourage the Alliance to give particular attention to the structural challenges facing least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, and to ensure that cooperation remains country-owned, demand-driven, and responsive to national priorities. The message of this year's observance is therefore clear. Many of the solutions to our shared challenges already exist across the Global South. Our task is to connect them, strengthen the partnerships around them, and scale their impact. Zambia remains its commitment to South-South and triangular cooperation and stands ready to work with all partners towards a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future. I thank you.

The distinguished representative of Zambia for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Chile to deliver her remarks.

Thank you. Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much. Chile aligns itself with the statements made by Uruguay on behalf of the G77 and China, and by the Philippines on behalf of the group of like-minded middle-income countries. In a context, international context marked by growing uncertainty, restrictions on financing for development, including ODA, increasingly serious effects of climate change and tensions over multilateralism, we believe that cooperation between countries of the Global South is increasingly relevant. For Chile, South-South cooperation comes out of experiences and shared challenges and is in line, grounded rather, in solidarity, horizontality, and learning between peers and collective action between countries of the global South. Its value is not only measured by financial flows, but rather, particularly in our ability to share knowledge, experiences, and solutions for public policies that can be adapted to the realities of each country. Triangular cooperation rather broadens these possibilities, articulating capacities and resources between different partners around jointly defined priorities. This vision reflects the horizontal nature of our cooperation. Chile is at the same time a country that benefits from international exchange and also a partner that puts its own capacities and learning to the availability of others. In 2025, the Chilean Agency for International Cooperation for Development managed 69 projects of cooperation benefiting Chile, while our country developed 138 projects in 32 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa, in addition to providing 660 grants for training and human capital. The same conviction guides the work of Chile as the current chair of the executive board of the regional conference on South-South cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean of SEPAL, which is a fundamental space for exchanging experiences, building consensus and positioning the voice and priorities of our region on global debates on cooperation and development. To this end, we have articulated our work around four priorities: positioning SAS-South and triangular cooperation as a strategic tool for regional development; increasing the use of innovative financing mechanisms and better articulation with development banks, strengthening our position in international debates on cooperation and development, and improving statistical capacities and information systems as a way of obtaining better results, guiding evidence-based decisions, and strengthening transparency. In times of fragmentation, we need more spaces for Trust, confidence, exchange and collective action. Chile will continue to promote South-South and triangular cooperation that is able to mobilize our own capacities, broaden alliances and contribute as a country of the Global South to more inclusive, resilient and sustainable development. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Chile for her remarks. And now I call on the distinguished representative of Guatemala to deliver her remarks.

Director of the office of South South cooperation excellencies colleagues Guatemala aligns itself um with this commemoration um of the International Day for South South cooperation and we align ourselves with the statements made this morning by g77 and the um middle income countries group, we reiterate our conviction that South-South and triangular cooperation is a strategic instrument to accelerate the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda, to strengthen national capacities and to promote innovative solutions to shared challenges. Guatemala has actively engaged in initiatives to exchange knowledge, engage in technical assistance with countries in Latin America and other regions of the global south in areas such as food security, the management of the risk of disasters, public health, agriculture, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development, and strengthening institutions. Furthermore, we have participated in triangular cooperation schemes that enabled us to exchange experiences, resources and capacities to bring about concrete and sustainable results. Our experience confirms that middle-income countries are not just receivers of cooperation, we also provide knowledge, innovation and good practices. Based on our reality and our capacities, we contribute to building solutions that are tailored to local contacts and the needs of our peoples. This approach is particularly relevant in areas such as digital transformation, public innovation, climate resilience, and social inclusion, which are fundamental priorities for middle-income countries. Guatemala welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, convinced that it will enable us to connect needs with solutions to strengthen alliances and expand the impact of successful experiences in the Global South. in an international context marked by complex and interconnected challenges. We reaffirm that solidarity, mutual learning and cooperation among peers remain essential pillars to build more inclusive, resilient and innovative development for all. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Guatemala for her remarks. And we have been given 10 more minutes in the conference room that will allow us to take two more speakers, member states, and then other speakers from the United Nations. So now I call on the distinguished representative of the Gambia.

Thank you, Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. The Gambia is pleased to join this important commemoration and thank the UN South-South, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation for bringing us under the team, solidarity, rising global alliance for inclusive and innovative development. We align ourselves with the statements delivered by G77 and China, the African group, and the group of LDCs. For the Gambia, South-South cooperation has been a source of shared progress. We have seen its value in practical initiatives that respond to our national priorities and strengthen the capacities of our people and institutions. Our partnerships have supported young people, strengthened agricultural livelihoods, expanded digital skills, early warnings, as well as contributed to our preparedness for climate-related risk. These experiences have reinforced our conviction that countries of the South have much to learn from one another and much to give to one another. One example is the Youth Volunteerism City Initiative in Banjul, implemented through the support of the UN South-South Cooperation Office, which reached nearly 2,000 beneficiaries and demonstrated how volunteerism can create opportunities for young people while contributing to local development. The IBSA Fund, a partnership among India, Brazil and South Africa, has also supported horticulture development in The Gambia, strengthening livelihoods and productive capacities. Similarly, our South-South cooperation partners have contributed to strengthening our transitional justice process as well as justice and prison reform efforts through capacity building for law enforcement and judicial institutions. These may be different areas of development, but the lesson is the same: valuable Solutions already exist across the global south. The challenge is often to connect countries to knowledge and experience they need, adapt those solutions to national circumstances, and secure the support necessary to sustain and expand them. This is why the Gambia welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We are confident that the alliance can facilitate stronger and more effective connections among countries, institutions, and partners. For a developing country, access to the right expertise at the right time can make a significant difference, particularly when it strengthens national capacity. Yet, South-South cooperation goes beyond the traditional distinction between contributors and beneficiaries. The Gambia, like every developing country, has experiences of its own to share. Our democratic transition, our work on peacebuilding and transitional justice, and our approaches to community resilience and development have generated lessons that may be relevant to others. South-South cooperation is strongest when there is a mutual exchange of knowledge and experience. Excellencies, these partnerships should, however, reinforce the broader framework of international development cooperation, not weaken the existing commitments. South-South cooperation should not replace North-South cooperation and should not diminish the existing development commitments. For developing countries facing limited physical space, climate vulnerability and significant financing needs and debt challenges, international support remains indispensable. South-South and triangular cooperation should broaden the partnerships available to us and facilitate the exchange of knowledge, technology and successful development approaches across borders.

Thank the distinguished representative of the Gambia and now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Malaysia who is the last in stripes speaker from the member states.

Thank you, moderator, distinguished delegates. Malaysia believes the theme of this year's UN Day for South-South Cooperation, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development, remains highly relevant in today's increasingly complex development landscape, where stronger solidarity, cooperation, and the sharing of solutions are needed more than ever. We welcome the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We hope the Alliance will serve as a practical platform to better connect countries' development priorities with available expertise, experience, and partnerships, and help bring successful solutions to greater scale. We believe the Alliance should build on the strength of South-South cooperation by remaining voluntary, demand-driven, and anchored in national ownership, while leveraging triangular partnerships with the UN, development partners, and other stakeholders. For Malaysia, South-South cooperation is about translating solidarity into practical action, sharing knowledge and adapting solutions to the priorities and circumstances of developing countries. This approach has guided the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme, or MTCP, since its establishment in 1980. Through the MTCP, Malaysia shares its development experience and expertise with fellow developing countries through training, scholarships, Technical Exchanges and Capacity Building Program. At its core, the MTCP is guided by a simple principle: development cooperation should be mutually beneficial and based on partnership among equals. This remains equally important today as developing countries seek practical solutions to increasingly complex and interconnected challenges. We believe the launch of the Alliance today will build on the strength of South-South cooperation while leveraging triangular partnerships with the UN, development partners, and other stakeholders. Malaysia looks forward to exploring how our experience can contribute to the Alliance and support greater exchange of practical development solutions across countries and regions. As we work towards the 2030 Agenda, Malaysia remains committed to the spirit of solidarity and partnership that lies at the heart of South-South cooperation.

Thank you.

I thank.

The distinguished representative of Malaysia for her remarks. And now I call on the representative of the OECD for remarks. Thanks.

Thank you, moderator. We would like to congratulate UNOCC on the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. As mentioned by Portugal, we would like to reiterate the invitation to join us at the 10th International Meeting on Triangular Cooperation, which will take place in Lisbon on 26th and 27th October. Over the past decade, the Lisbon Meetings have established themselves as trusted space for open exchange among partners. They provide an opportunity to explore new initiatives, learn from one another's experience, and connect with the wider triangular cooperation community. This 10th edition is not only an occasion to celebrate how far triangular cooperation has come, but also an opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned and to jointly shape its future. In preparation for the meeting, the OECD, together with Portugal and UNOCC, launched a call for evidence and results of triangular cooperation. Importantly, our ambition was to move away from debates on measurement and reporting. Instead, we wanted to better understand what triangular cooperation achieves in practice. Allow me to highlight three key messages emerging from this exercise. First, triangular cooperation has evolved from being a modality into a strategic approach to international partnership building. The discussions have moved beyond questions of definition towards a broader reflection of how triangular cooperation can help reinvent development cooperation in an increasingly complex world. By bringing together diverse actors and perspectives, it fosters collaboration at both technical and political levels and helps bridge different cooperation traditions. Second, complementarity is at the heart of the value proposition of triangular cooperation. The most frequently cited motivation for engaging in triangular partnerships is the ability to combine expertise, resources and experiences in ways that no single partner could achieve alone. Third, Triangular cooperation delivers lasting impact by strengthening systems, institutions, and relationships. Its value extends beyond individual projects, fostering trust and promoting long-term partnerships between development partners. We look forward to continuing the conversation on effective results of triangular cooperation. I thank you.

We thank the distinguished representative of the OECD, and I will invite the last inscribed speaker from the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO.

Good morning. It is a great honor to join you in the celebration of this year's United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, and the theme, Solidarity Rising, Global Alliance for Inclusive and Innovative Development. The theme strongly resonates with FAO and with our long-standing experience in facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation. Across the Global South, countries are increasingly turning to one another to exchange innovative ideas, expertise, and practical solutions. This growing solidarity is particularly important at a time when countries are confronting interconnected challenges, from climate and water stresses and food insecurity to economic uncertainty and the rapid transformation of the digital economy. No country can solve these challenges alone. FAO's facilitated South-South triangular cooperation embodies the spirit of Solidarity Rising. It connects countries, institutions, and communities so that knowledge, technologies, and good practices can be exchanged, adapted, and put into action. Farmers, experts, researchers, and institutions are the true custodians and providers of this knowledge. Today, however, we must go one step further, from knowledge exchange to collective action, and from individual partnerships to broader platforms that can connect solutions with countries and partners. In this regard, FAO welcomes the launch of the Global Alliance for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We see considerable potential in a platform that can connect countries seeking solutions with partners able to contribute expertise, experience, and catalytic support. In line with FAO's recently adopted SSTC Guidelines for Action 2026-2029, we are committed to strengthening our role as a global advocate and a facilitator for enhanced cooperation in agri-food systems, while expanding opportunities for multi-stakeholder and triangular partnerships. Rising solidarity gives us an opportunity to transform shared challenges into shared progress. FAO stands ready to work with members, United Nations system, and all partners to move solutions further and faster to build more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agri-food systems.

Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization for her remarks. And I invite the colleagues who were not able to deliver their statements, IOM, ILO, ICOW, to submit them to the United Nations Office of South-South Cooperation for inclusion with the materials from today's observance. Excellencies, distinguished delegates and colleagues, I thank you on behalf of the Office of South-South Cooperation for your thoughtful contributions and for the practical examples of solidarity, innovation, and cooperation that were shared with us today. The UN Office of South-South Cooperation colleagues will also be recording short interviews for social media following today's official proceedings, and we encourage you to join them. It is now my pleasure to invite Ms. Dima Al-Khatib, Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, to deliver closing remarks. Dima, you have.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Maha, for the wonderful moderation. I just wanted to thank everybody who was with us today. This speaks loads for the importance of South-South and triangular cooperation to all the member states who were here with us, but also to the partners and to the UN entities. We are very much excited to follow up on this meeting, to engage with you more for enhanced membership on the Global Alliance. and to work with you on, you know, putting forward the offers, the demands, and making this happen. Thank you again. Let me also take a moment to thank my team, who has been diligently working to make this happen and to make this meeting happen in the best way as possible. Thank you very much, and a very happy UN Day for South-South cooperation to all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dima. And this concludes today's. I now declare the 2026 observance of the United Nations Day for South-South cooperation close. Thank you.