SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION: THE ASIAN EXPERIENCE

(IPS/South Center) Over the years South-South Cooperation (SSC) has evolved from merely sharing technical know-how to cooperation for a comprehensive socio-economic transformation, writes Biswajit Nag, Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, India. In this article, Nag writes that in the new millennium SSC seeks to harness the intellectual capital and technological advances accumulated by developing countries to find the southern solutions embedded in people, technology, alliances, and the forces of globalisation. Regional cooperation provides most developing countries with a platform to seek regional solutions for the challenges of globalisation. Though trade and investment are at the core of any regional cooperation, the environment, health, and education have also drawn attention. The Asian experience of regional cooperation is useful because most of the programmes attempt to convince national governments to include the regional agenda to benefit both the country and the region.