November 27, 2017•Update: November 27, 2017
By Leyla Ataman Koyuncuoğlu
ANTALYA, Turkey
Triangular cooperation among member states is the key to achieve the UN’s goals, a top UN official said on Monday.
Addressing the opening of the Global South-South Development Expo in the Mediterranean Antalya province, Jorge Chediek, the secretary-general’s envoy on south-south cooperation, said: “We are planning to realize goals with triangular cooperation.”
The 9th GSSD Expo, hosted by Turkey, is to take place in Antalya on Nov. 27-30. Over 120 countries and 25 UN agencies are participating.
The theme of the Expo is “South-South Cooperation in the Era of Economic, Social and Environmental Transformation: Road to the 40th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40)”.
In his opening speech, Galo Andres Yepez Holguin, representative of the Group of 77 developing nations, emphasized the expo’s significance for economic cooperation and technology transfers.
Mentioning development funds, Holguin said: “Southern countries need them. We think that developing countries must boost their support.”
Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, the UN high representative for the least-developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states (UN-OHRLLS), for her part, said the main goal of the South-South Office is eradicating inequality.
Magdy Martinez-Soliman, director of the Bureau for Policy and Program Support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), said 1.4 billion people have no access to electricity, and hundreds of thousands of people are deprived of water.
Ursula Mueller, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, underscored Turkey’s important role in international humanitarian aid.
Turkey is one of the main donor countries around the world with its $6.4 billion contribution, Mueller said.
