'South-South Cooperation is not an Option but an Imperative', G-77 plus China Conference)

"South-South cooperation is not an option but an imperative to complement North-South cooperation in order to contribute to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals," said Friday the G-77 plus China.

This conclusion came in the Declaration of Marrakesh, adopted at the end of the High level conference on the South-South Cooperation held in Marrakesh this December 16-19. The Declaration is the continuation of the recommendations of the first South Summit held in Havana (Cuba) in April 2000.

G-77 plus China, the largest Third World coalition in the United Nations, underline in the new document that "South-South cooperation is about the tremendous force of solidarity" that will allow them to overcome different challenges.

The Declaration reaffirms commitment to strengthen South-South cooperation in various areas, notably in "information and communication technologies, trade, investment, finance, debt management, food, agriculture, water, energy, health, education and transit transport as well as in related North-South issues."

While deploring that "South-South Cooperation has experienced successes and failures which are linked, in a broad sense, to the international environment which influenced development policies and strategies," the Declaration hailed that the international community "has recognized the importance of South-South cooperation in various United Nations Conferences and Summits."

Morocco is currently chairing the G-77 that was established in 1964 by seventy-seven developing countries signatories of the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries," issued at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva.

Although the membership of the G-77 has increased to 133 countries plus China, the original name was kept because of its historic significance.