Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria received the award in the category of Global Governance Leadership. Credit: Malgorzata Stawecka/IPS

By IPS Correspondents
NEW YORK, Sep 23 2012 (IPS)

Under the umbrella of South-South cooperation, developing countries are celebrating their success in advancing sustainable development and innovative technologies in the global South.

“E-Governance can help us make public service and administration more efficient and transparent. In this way, it can help us enhance the quality of life for all citizens,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement released here.

“Sustainable Tourism and E-Government” was the theme of the 2012 South-South Awards, a joint initiative by the South-South News, the Permanent Mission of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union. The awards ceremony took place on September 23.

Hosted at the prestigious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, the second edition of the event brought together high-level government officials, leaders from the business community, as well as world class celebrities.

“As the primary contributor to our economy, tourism in general and more latterly, as a sustainable development option, must be planned and managed so that its socio-economic benefits are spread as widely as possible throughout society,” said W. Baldwin Spencer, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.

The sustainable development approach is particularly important in tourism because this sector depends mostly on tourism attractions and activities that are related to the natural environment and historic and cultural heritage,” he added.

This year’s ceremony has provided a unique venue for sharing the most successful achievements of South-South and triangular cooperation in using innovative information and communication technologies, rewarding governments, organizations and individuals for their exceptional contributions to the implementation of global E-Governance and sustainable tourism.

For instance, Algeria’s president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister of Barbados Freundel Stuart were among others who received the award in the category of E-Government Development, whereby former prime minister of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo and Africa Union Chairperson Nc Dlamini Zuma were among the recipients of the 2012 South-South Global Governance Leadership Award.

President of Angola, José Eduardo Dos Santos, has been awarded the South-South Award for his outstanding contributions to improving information and communication technologies (ITCs) in his country, which, according to the U.N.’s E-Government Development Index, is a third-leading Central African country in e-government development.

Speaking at the South-South Awards ceremony Sunday, Dos Santos said that Information Technology (IT) was a key tool in elections in Angola on August, 31.

“This is an important year for the United Nations and the international community to accelerate efforts towards the attainment of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 8, which complements the other goals,” said ambassador Francis Lorenzo, president of South-South News.

“Specifically, this involves demonstrating how e-government can accelerate and underpin public service delivery and help scale up the implementation of the MDGs. This can be achieved through strong political commitment to democratic governance, the rule of law and building a secure and stable future within the countries of the South. This, in turn, will create an enabling environment for service industries such as sustainable tourism to contribute to economic growth by reducing poverty, surmounting gender inequality and fostering sustainable development,” he added.

Receiving a South-South Award for highlighting the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility was Chen Feng, chairman of the HNA Group, China’s fourth-largest airline operator and a big supporter of charities, with 100 million dollars already donated for humanitarian work.

The Brightness Action program, initiated in 2002 and strongly supported by the HNA Group has, over the past 10 years, helped more than 20,000 of people in China and Africa regain their eye sight.