SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION VITAL TO SHARED PROSPERITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,

Secretary-General SG/SM/16140 DEV/3115 OBV/1372

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS IN MESSAGE FOR OBSERVANCE

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, observed today:

This year’s United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation comes as the international community is transitioning to a post-2015 development agenda centred on shared prosperity and environmental sustainability.

Despite remarkable advances in achieving the Millennium Development Goals, progress across the South has been uneven.  Extreme poverty, rampant inequality, malnutrition and vulnerability to climate and weather-related shocks persist.

According to the United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index, 2.2 billion people still live in abject poverty.  About 1.4 billion people, the majority in the South, still have no reliable electricity, 900 million lack access to clean water and 2.6 billion do not have adequate sanitation.

In the face of this stark reality, South-South and triangular cooperation offer a path to balancing growth and equity in the context of a new global partnership for sustainable development.

I encourage countries of the South and all development partners to come together to share, disseminate and scale up successful development solutions and technologies.  This November’s Global South-South Development Expo in Washington, D.C., will provide one such important platform.

On this United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, let us reaffirm our commitment to pioneering South-South approaches that will ensure shared prosperity, sustainable development and a life of dignity for all.