VIENNA - “The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is committed to stimulating South-South and triangular cooperation as a means of accelerating Africa’s industrialization as it will lead to greater innovation and opportunities for developing countries to learn from each other and share good practices”, said Managing Director Fatou Haidara.

She was speaking at a side event held on the theme “South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) for harnessing opportunities of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)” organized virtually during the African Union Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification in Niamey, Niger. “Through SSTC, we build capacity and improve infrastructure in developing countries. Working together, countries in the Global South can find new solutions to common challenges and build a more prosperous future,” she remarked.

SSTC as an enabler for industrial development has the potential to provide complementary support to the implementation of the AfCFTA by bringing knowledge, capacity, finance, and technology together. This could assist African countries in enhancing resilience, expanding market access, facilitating access to essential goods and services, and increasing productivity. “South-South cooperation is a manifestation of solidarity between developing countries that voluntarily gather to enhance their mutual development,” opined United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation Intergovernmental and UN System Affairs Chief Denis Nkala.

The event attracted panelists and participants from various fields and explored avenues to strengthen cooperation and capitalize on trade opportunities created by the AfCFTA agreement. “AfCFTA will result in a reconfiguration of global value chains, which are shifting towards a new more localized global economic geography. South-South cooperation can be the key to achieve this transformation,” said UNIDO’s Office of South-South and Triangular Cooperation Director Shenhong Yao.

The African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) was committed to establishing continental trade corridors and supporting sustainable initiatives such as the creation of five industrial parks across the continent, said Afreximbank’s Export Development Director Oluranti Doherty. She highlighted the cooperation initiatives between UNIDO and Afreximbank. UNIDO currently has about 30 ongoing projects in Africa that contain SSTC elements. UNIDO officials also presented two case studies on ‘Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres’ and on ‘Sustainable Textile Investment and Operations in Ethiopia’, which makes use of the triangular cooperation modality.

For further information, please contact:

Pradeep Paulose, Programme Officer, Office of South-South and Triangular Cooperation

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