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GLOBAL FORUM
Interview with Ambassador Aliyar Lebbe Abdul Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and co-chair of the Group of 77 (G-77) Vienna Chapter in 2014.
The G-77 at 50: ‘SouthSouth cooperation still necessary, still real’ What do you see as the most important international issues for the G-77 within the United Nations system in 2014? The G-77 is the largest intergovernmental forum of developing countries, if not an intergovernmental organization itself in a structural sense. It gives voice to the collective concerns and aspirations of developing countries, which today stand at around two-thirds of the total UN membership. It negotiates on vital issues with other groups, states and partners on behalf of its members and peoples. It provides leadership on global issues of concern or interest to the Group as a collective. All issues would seem to coalesce into a broader agenda of enormous importance for both the G-77, as well as the other partners, whatever angle one may approach them from and, that is, the review of Millennium Development Goals, and the elaboration of the post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. All areas that the G-77 deals with would fall into this basket in one way or another – whether it is poverty eradication, employment creation,
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development cooperation, restructuring international financial architecture, market access, climate change, energy, food and water security, or other pressing concerns relating to the environment and sustainable development. The G-77 is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Some see the world as increasingly divided between rich and poor within national boundaries, and thus believe that the ‘developed’ North and ‘developing’ South is an out-dated concept. After 50 years, is South-South development cooperation still relevant? While the argument that there is North within South, or South within North, appears attractive, it is important to discern the background against which this argument has forcefully been put forward for quite some time now. In my view, in a way it serves a section of the North well, since the fall in development assistance to below the level agreed cannot be explained in any other convincing way. It is in this context, in part I think, that the concept of South-South development cooperation has developed. By which I mean that we, the developing countries, need to help each
other where our strengths lie. This is because poverty eradication and development continue to remain the utmost priorities of all developing countries. This explains why South-South cooperation is not just necessary but, in the circumstances, is a reality. In terms of South-South development cooperation, does the G-77 see industrial development as a priority? In the context of carbon emissions, industrial pollution and climate change, and of growing concerns about resource scarcity, do you think the countries of the Global South can follow the same model of production and consumption as the countries of the North? Poverty eradication and development cannot be pursued effectively unless they are complemented by what many consider is the one of the key drivers of development, and that is industrial development. It is logical that if SouthSouth development cooperation is to be more meaningful and effective, industrial development needs to be at the top of our list of priorities. Extending this further, if you would agree that industrial development is a priority, the path you take to pursue it, and all that is associated with it, become priorities as well. Industrial development, like any other process, has its own costs and benefits. We need to take it forward in a prudent, effective, and environmentally friendly manner, if we are to avoid the downside. We all know that, in as much as it has yielded benefits, in situations where there was no judicious regulation or sense of contentment, it has contributed to phenomena, including the ones that you have mentioned. Although such challenges are prevalent in a more pronounced manner in countries of the North, we in the South cannot be complacent either. It is in this context that I appreciate the concept of inclusive and