South-South cooperation opens new vista for world economic growth
www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-24 16:22:40 Print
BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Two reports issued respectively by a major United Nations trade conference and the International Monetary Fund show that to boost South-South cooperation and explore new models for cooperation will not only bring opportunities to the developing countries, but open a new space for the growth of world economy as well.
The ongoing United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is held at a time when global economy has been going through troublesome times, such as the sub-prime crisis in the United States, the soaring food and oil prices worldwide, and the mounting global inflation.
How could the developing countries deal with those issues dominate the the conference agenda and the two published reports may have shed light on the discussion of the issues.
According to the IMF report, the U.S. sub-prime crisis and the slowdown of its economy have not had much impact on most newly emerging economies.
In 2007, some countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil have outperformed the United States, Japan and Europe and contributed more to world economic growth, becoming the main driving forces of world economic development.
Analysts believe that the growing South-South economic and trade cooperation has led to closer economic ties among the developing countries and reduced their dependence on the U.S. market.
As showed by the UNCTAD report, during the 1996-2006 period, trade volume fuelled by South-South cooperation has tripled, reaching 2 trillion U.S. dollars.
Asia's products entered the African markets, making cheap but durable products available and affordable to many Africans for the first time.
From 1995 to 2005, African countries have also exported more raw materials to Asia. Africa's trade volume with other developing countries raised four-fold during this period.
The IMF report also indicates that the shares of developing countries in global economy are constantly growing while their dependence on markets in developed countries is reducing.
The UNCTAD report showed that trade among developing countries have become more frequent and expanded in scale, especially those between Asian and African countries.
The IMF report highlights developing countries' potential for further development, while the UNCTAD report reveals the potential of cooperation among the developing countries.
In fact, many developing countries have already realized the value and prospect of the South-South cooperation. They are trying to boost trade among themselves in a bid to diversify trade and investment and facilitate mutual development.
For example, the Dialogue Forum set up by India, Brazil and South Africa in 2003 has growing from a loose alliance into significant mechanism for boosting trade and investment among the three countries, along with the deepening of consultation and broadening of topics.
South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma described the forum as "an embodiment of the South-South cooperation," adding that the three countries could work together and do a lot to improve the lives of their people.
In addition, the China-Africa cooperation forum has started a new model for South-South cooperation, which is based on sincerity and friendship, equality and mutual benefit, unity and cooperation as well as common development.
China respects the development model of African countries' own choice and does not seek to impose on them its values and development models, which constitutes a far cry from the developed countries tending to attach many additional conditions for their assistance to Africa.
Assistant Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, He Changchui noted that with their economies highly complementary to each other, China and African countries can share experience in many fields.
The China-Africa cooperation forum may well serve as an example for South-South cooperation, he said.
For the developing countries, analysts noted, the South-South cooperation has great economic as well as political significance.
Under the existing international economic order, closer South-South cooperation will put the developing countries in better position in their dialogues with the developed countries and constitutes an important step toward establishing a new global economic order.
Better economic cooperation among the developing countries will also give big impetus to closer political and diplomatic ties among themselves and consequently have profound impacts on containing power politics, safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.
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