South-South Cooperation

The cooperation of developing countries in the economic, political and other fields is mainly dominated by economic cooperation. It is a new type of international relations based on equality and mutual benefit and mutual respect for sovereignty. Most developing countries are located in the south of developed countries (Western Europe, North America, and Japan), and many are in the southern hemisphere, so they are often referred to as “Southern countries”, and cooperation between developing countries is also called “South-South Cooperation”. Developing countries that gained independence after World War II faced the common historical task of developing the economy and consolidating political independence. To this end, we must unite and cooperate economically and politically to resist the old international political and economic order. South-South cooperation originated from the Asian-African Conference in 1955. In the early 1960s, developing countries began to try economic cooperation to get rid of the control of developed countries and revive their national economy.

The 1st Summit of the Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement held in 1961 called on developing countries to cooperate. In 1964, the G77 proposed the requirements to establish a new international economic order at the First UN Conference on Trade and Development. The 2nd UN Conference on Trade and Development, held in New Delhi, India in 1968, emphasized the need to promote economic cooperation and independently develop the national economy among developing countries. The Third Summit of the Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, held in Lusaka, Zambia in 1970, discussed South-South cooperation in detail and proposed the concept of "collective self-reliance". Since then, the Summit of the Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 have clarified the program of action for South-South cooperation in the form of documents: in accordance with the principle of collective self-reliance, promote close and effective economic cooperation among developing countries, strengthen political and economic independence and collective economic power, and achieve the goal of establishing a new international economic order. The UN Conference on Trade and Development, held in 1976, established the Committee on Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries as the central agency for coordination of South-South cooperation.

The 4th Ministerial Meeting of the G77 in 1979 put forward proposals to give priority to developing countries’ GSP and establish their own multinational companies of the Third World.

At the South-South Cooperation Conference held in New Delhi, India in 1982, the representatives of 44 participating countries put forward many ideas and suggestions on the issues of ensuring food self-sufficiency in developing countries, enhancing energy and scientific and technological cooperation, and establishing the Southern Bank. The 7th Summit of the Countries of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1983 adopted the “Economic Declaration” and “Agenda for Economic Cooperation”, emphasizing the need to put South-South cooperation into action and the importance of financial cooperation among developing countries. After more than 20 years of efforts, the scale of South-South cooperation continues to expand, the content is getting richer, and the scope of cooperation involves industry, agriculture, trade, finance, shipping, technology and other fields; and the forms are also increasingly diverse, for example, establishing various regional development organizations and setting up joint ventures in terms of production; developing reciprocal trade, and establishing free trade zones and customs unions, and various organizations of raw material exporting countries in terms of trade; establishing financial development institutions such as multilateral development funds in terms of finance; and strengthening exchanges in terms of technology, etc.

Among them, regional economic cooperation based on collective self-reliance is the most important way of South-South cooperation. Representative South-South cooperation organizations mainly include the Organization of African Unity, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Southern Common Market, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, etc. By the end of 1984, nearly 30 regional and semi-regional organizations, more than 30 organizations of raw material production and exporting countries, and nearly 20 monetary and financial organizations had been established in developing countries. Member States of these organizations account for more than 70% of the total number of developing countries. Trade volume between developing countries has also increased. The main difficulties faced in South-South cooperation are that developing countries differ greatly in social systems, economic conditions, internal and external policies, rely too much on developed countries in terms of capital, technology, markets, and products, and have great similarity in industrial and export structure. The similarity industrial and export structure, in particular, restricts the depth and breadth of South-South cooperation to a considerable extent. South-South cooperation is a historical trend and will surely overcome difficulties along the way and achieve more results.