Institutional Infrastructures: Establishment of UNIDO Centres for South-South Cooperation
South-South cooperation promotes economic and technical cooperation among developing countries and is an important complement to North-South cooperation. The role of technical cooperation among developing countries for industrial development is widely recognized. The growing importance of developing countries in world trade is associated with a sharp rise in manufactured exports and an increasing role of South-South trade in commodities and manufactures. If the rise of some countries in the South is to be harnessed for the mutual benefit of all, it calls for a qualitative enhancement of South-South cooperation.To tackle the new challenges in trade and investment promotion and industrial development, new institutions and systems are needed and UNIDO responded with a project to launch South-South Cooperation Centers in some of the more advanced developing countries like India and China.Plans are underway for similar centers in Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, South Africa and Brazil.