NEW YORK, 26 SEPTEMBER 2015

His Excellency Mr. Xi Jinping,

His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon,

Excellencies Heads of State and Heads of Government,

Distinguished Delegates,

I wish to begin by thanking our chair, His Excellency Mr. Xi Jinping, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China, for the initiative and the excellent organization of this meeting.

Excellencies,

Today’s meeting is about injecting a new dynamism into South-South Cooperation to implement the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

It is Indonesia’s perspective that, as a mandate of the 1955 Asian-African Conference, SSC is a manifestation of solidarity among developing countries.

The 1955 Bandung Conference was held as a response to the challenges of that time, particularly that of colonialism and imperialism as well as the ideological divide of the Cold War.  By forging Asian-African solidarity our then still weak nations were able to stand tall and be counted in the global arena, among others by charting an independent course with the development of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

The 2015 Asian African Conference held in Indonesia last April was held to celebrate this can-do spirit as well as to revitalize the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership and advance South-South and Triangular Cooperation.

To be relevant South-South cooperation must be able to respond to the current challenges we face which include continuing global economic volatility, growing development gap between countries and within countries, energy and food scarcity, climate change and the threats of radicalism and violent extremism.

We must strengthen economic cooperation between member states in the areas of trade and investment as well as in technical exchanges.  Given the potentials that we have closer South-South cooperation can yield significant social-economic benefits, which could give better equality to its members.

We should also learn from each other and share best practices in dealing with internal conflicts and the threats of radicalism and violent extremism. As far as possible we must try our utmost to resolve conflicts through peaceful means.  After all, peace and development is indivisible.

Through SSC, countries of the Global South can also enhance our respective capacities and support each other in various international negotiations.

Mr. Chairman,

Excellencies,

SSC holds a pivotal role in realizing the new development agenda due to its flexibility.

Moreover, the availability of national capacities of the Global South for peer learning has also increased significantly.

For instance, in 1995 the NAM Center for South-South Technical Cooperation was established in Indonesia to accelerate development in developing countries through various activities including expert exchanges, technical information and facility sharing, trainings and apprenticeship.  To date Indonesia has conducted around 400 capacity development training programs for more than 4000 participants from countries across Asia, Pacific, Africa and Latin America.

It is indeed our firm views that SSC continue to hold a key position in bringing together various stakeholders from the Global South in the form of global partnerships.

Technical, financial and joint development activities in SSC should therefore further  incorporate multi-stakeholder efforts, including public-private-partnerships.

As you might be well aware, at the 2015 Asian-African Conference, Indonesia has committed to establish the Asian African Centre in the very near future.

This center is intended to be an institutional support to follow up on the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership in multiple areas of interaction, such as G-to-G, B-to-B, and people-to-people.

Excellencies,

 

The 70th UNGA is marked by “a commitment to action”.

Corresponding to this, we shall consider South-South Cooperation as a vehicle to meet our new development aspirations.

Together, let us tailor South-South Cooperation to suit the Post-2015 Development Agenda while adhering to its original principles as mandated by the 1955 Asian African Conference.

I thank you.