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Official stresses South-South co-operation Co-operation is vital to help Asia's least developed economies grow, said a Chinese official on Friday. Asia-Pacific countries need to enhance South-South and regional co-operation to help the least developed countries develop their economies and reduce poverty, said Shen Guofang, deputy head of the Chinese delegation to the 60th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) on Friday. "Developing countries are economically complementary to each other, they can work together pragmatically in trade, investment, infrastructure construction and technical assistance and exchanges," said Shen. "Countries in the Asia-Pacific region should enrich and expand the content and manner of South-South Co-operation between them," said Shen. The discrepancy between the poor countries in the South and the rich in the North has been aggravated during the past decades as the globalization process expanded. UN statistics show that in the past 30 years, the number of least developed countries (LDCs) has grown from 25 to 51, with the number of people who live in extreme poverty rising from 138 million to 307 million. In the Asia-Pacific region, the number of these most poor countries has more than doubled in the past three decades from six in 1971 to 14 now. As those countries are left behind, the targets of the Millennium Development Goals become harder to meet, said Anwarul K. Chowdhury, the United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General. "The international community, therefore, needs to make a determined effort to support these counties. A potential opportunity to do that, I believe, is through enhanced regional and South-South co-operation," said Chowdhury, who also serves as the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. Given the wide range of financial and technical resources available in Asia and the Pacific, regional co-operation, particularly in the shape of South-South Co-operation, would open up potential opportunities and provide a good framework for international support to the least developed countries, Chowdhury said. He listed a series initiatives urged by the UN including opening more markets to help poor countries boost their export earnings, canceling debts, bringing in increased investment and providing technical assistance. China, as a developing country in the region which is facing many difficulties in its own economic development, has been working hard to provide financial and technical assistance to these countries, said Shen. In the past two years, the Chinese Government has reduced or exempted debts totalling 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) owned by 32 heavily indebted poor countries in Africa, and promised to reduce or exempt some of the debts in Asian countries, he added.In addition, China has given zero-tariff treatment to some communities from poor countries in the region. Shen emphasized that the fundamental reason for poverty in those countries is "the long existing unfair and unjust international economic order." That has put them in an unfavourable position to compete internationally and prevented them from shaking off difficulties and embracing rapid growth. Shen, therefore, urged developed countries to fulfill their international obligations and commitments by increasing governmental development assistance to LDCs, reducing their debts burden, and improving their conditions for market access. |
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