Strengthening Economic Integration in Africa through South –South and Triangular Cooperation – 24 May 2023

By May 17, 2023 May 26th, 2023 Events

  • When: Wednesday, 24 May 2023, 12- 1:30 Pm GMT+3
  • Where: Room St Catherine – International Convention Center in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt
  • Online Participation: To join this event online, please register here.

South-South and triangular cooperation play an increasingly important role in the development cooperation landscape, where sharing knowledge and expertise are becoming imperative for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Against this backdrop, on 24 May 2023 the Ministry of International Cooperation of Egypt and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) are jointly organizing a hybrid session on Strengthening Economic Integration in Africa through South-South and Triangular Cooperation, aimed at promoting South-South and peer learning within the African context and across the global south to achieve a more resilient and just economic transition.

Background

The Covid-19 pandemic and the rapidly changing geo-political global scene impose new and more complex challenges impinging on the ability to achieve sustainable growth and development. In the face of these challenges, countries have increasingly recognized the value of the wide array of knowledge on development lessons and experiences. And with the global south countries accounting for more than half of the world’s economic growth in recent years, South-South cooperation is portrayed as the most significant type of cooperation that contributes in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Moreover, Countries of the South have realized the importance of promoting sound development policies and practices based on greater national and collective self-reliance through Knowledge exchange. Knowledge is becoming one of the most valuable commodities, as it is critical to developing effective institutions, building capacity, and creating sustainable solutions to work toward greater growth and equity.

There is no nation, irrespective of its abilities, can achieve full sustainable development on its own. Hence the role of South-South Cooperation and triangular cooperation is crucial in addressing common challenges. This was clearly reflected in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action+40 of 2019 stressed that South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation enable developing countries to achieve sustainable development through partnership and, inter alia, to promote unity and cooperation, which contribute to establishing a fair and equitable international economic order.

On the African continent, digitalization, rapid technology advancement, climate change, and the various impacts of demographic transitions have been generating both opportunities and challenges. To turn these challenges and megatrends into opportunities for the continent, it will be vital for African countries to diversify its development partnerships.

As of now, triangular cooperation has not played a major role, and there is scope to expand and improve the implementation of the modality across the continent to scale up innovation and share successful solutions while creating a more sustainable and resilient economic future for African countries.

Objectives

The session aims to:

  • Present Egypt’s strategy and efforts towards effective economic South- South and Triangular Cooperation in Africa.
  • Shed the light on the activities of the South-South Development Cooperation Academy which was revamped in 2021 to consolidate Egypt’s efforts towards an effective south-south and triangular cooperation in Africa.
  • Discuss how triangular cooperation can add value in supporting African countries.
  • Provide an outlook for more inclusive, horizontal triangular partnerships to leverage and scale up innovations from Africa.
  • Showcase the efforts to address the megatrends and development challenges on the continent and how can south-south and triangular cooperation play a key role in this prospect;

Structure and Format:

  • This session will be co-chaired by Her Excellency Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation, and Her Excellency Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO African Union Development Agency (AUDA), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
  • H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat will provide introductory remarks on South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) landscape and opportunities for the African continent, and the role and strategy of Egypt pushing forward economic integration through SSTC (10 minutes)
  • ▪H.E. Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas will provide remarks on the role of NEPAD in strengthening regional integration among African countries. (10 minutes).
  • The session will be held in the form of a roundtable to be able to have a dynamic and inclusive dialogue among all the valuable participants (Physical attendance and/or Online)
  • The session will proceed with an open discussion with participants on practical ways to push forward the SSTC agenda and how to support inter and intro African integration.

In Attendance

  • African Ministers
  • Development partners
  • Private sector companies
  • Civil society organizations
  • Think tanks