UNDP, China mark South-South Cooperation Day

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and China have implemented 39 South-South cooperation projects since 2011, benefiting nearly 20 million people across 26 countries, the UNDP China office said at an event marking the UN Day for South-South Cooperation.

The progress was released on Saturday in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, at a seminar attended by about 100 representatives from government agencies, academia and private sector. Participants discussed new pathways for sustainable development under the principle of "leaving no one behind."

Supported by Chinese funding, including the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund, the projects have helped rebuild homes and schools in climate-disaster-hit areas, helped children return to school, provided vocational training in multiple countries, offered targeted assistance to poor families, and promoted green technology for sustainable development in the Global South.

"Through cooperation, countries can collectively respond to global challenges that no one country can navigate alone. Notably, this spirit of cooperation has been reflected in China's increasing international development engagements. UNDP is proud to be a partner on this journey, working with China to advance international development cooperation that builds a more sustainable future while benefiting the most vulnerable," said Stefan Liller, UNDP's Resident Representative in China, in his address.

Participants at the seminar noted that cooperation with China focuses on concrete practice rather than abstract theories or concepts. They said China's rich experience and expertise in poverty reduction, industrial upgrading and digital transformation are increasingly being shared internationally through various forms of cooperation.

Addressing digital divide and other new challenges, participants called for ensuring that artificial intelligence and digital transformation create opportunities for all, rather than exacerbating or breeding inequality.

"China's is so recent and so vivid and so very much understood by its own people and its government and that gives it, I think, a unique platform from which to share with the rest of the world the climate transition, the energy transition, education, jobs and social protection. Each of these are areas where we are already working in that triangularity between a partner country, China, and the United Nations. And we really want to double down on that now," said Stephen Jackson, United Nations Resident Coordinator in China.

UNDP, China mark South-South Cooperation Day

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Thursday said that BRICS is a vital platform to expand trade and promote local‑currency transactions, pledging Egypt’s continued push to deepen cooperation within the bloc.

At a press conference in Egypt's New Administrative Capital, Abdelatty stressed the importance of increasing trade volume and using local currencies in transactions to strengthen trade among member countries.

"BRICS for us is an extremely important economic platform and it's very important to enhance trade volume, to use local currencies in transactions to enhance trade among the BRICS countries. And of course we have a development bank which is not applying any conditionality, and that's very, very important. And so we will continue our efforts in order to enhance cooperation within BRICS members and as well as not using BRICS as a tool within the current polarization in the global system, this is very important," he said.

On cooperation with China, Abdelatty said Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent state visit to Egypt was highly significant as it marked Xi's first state visit to the country in a decade and coincided with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

He said Egypt is advancing the next phase of the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and will work to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, including promoting the localization of key industries such as electric vehicles.

"We will continue to enhance our cooperation with China based on mutual interest, mutual respect and noninterference in the internal affairs of any country. And of course, we will enhance our trade volume, as well as investment and localization, especially in key areas like automotive, including electric cars, also the localization of the different industries when it comes to renewable energy, solar panels, turbine towers, blades, those are of great importance," he said.

BRICS vital for trade growth, currency integration: Egyptian FM