Connect & Collaborate for Better Future: Xiaojun Grace Wang,

Article by Xiaojun Grace Wang, Deputy Director, UNOSSC

In 2021, UNOSSC will continue to facilitate sharing and exchanges of experiences, learnings, and adaptable development solutions among various stakeholders working on South-South and triangular cooperation for the SDGs. Hosted by UNOSSC and its development partners, South-South Galaxy, the global digital knowledge sharing and partnership brokering platform, will play a key role in making this possible.

With over 290 institutions around the world actively engaged, the platform provides opportunities for collaboration within the UN system and beyond. Southern countries and interested development partners are able to locate concrete cases, knowledge and initiatives, collaborate with potential partners digitally, and explore funding opportunities.

Throughout 2021, a selected number of research papers on issues including South-South cooperation in trade and investment, financing for the SDGs, the digital economy, gender, COVID-19, climate change and institutional impact will be launched on this platform. Towards this end, your insights are most valuable for the production of knowledge and cutting-edge policy research. We are currently inviting your perspectives on the Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Assessment Tools survey and a Joint UNECA-UNOSSC survey on the Role of Digital Technology in the Implementation of AfCFTA.

Awareness & Education Through Digital

Virtual events on innovative initiatives and actionable solutions to galvanize and operationalize South-South and triangular cooperation will continue to be streamed through South-South Galaxy. The upcoming UNOSSC session on ‘The Role of South-South Cooperation and Digital Technology in Structuring a Globally Inclusive Post-COVID-19 Economic Architecture for Increased Trade Facilitation’ at the WTO’s Aid-for-Trade Stocktaking event recording will be being made available post-event.

This year, partners are receiving support in establishing virtual platforms to enhance cross-border collaboration especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. South-South Galaxy will house the Virtual Secretariat for g7+ Parliamentary Assembly, bringing twenty parliaments to provide support to each other in matters related to peace, resilience and development. The UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), under its initiative to promote South-South exchanges, will use South-South Galaxy as platform for on-line network of Southern experts and stakeholders for voluntary knowledge exchange and learning to promote cooperation on CT/PVE. UNOSSC Cities Project will bring together over 200 cities and institutions around the world to enhance mutual learning and knowledge exchange via the platform.

I am confident that these systematic and strategic collaboration efforts will pave the path to a brighter development landscape towards achieving the SDGs. We look forward to continued engagement of our community on South-South Galaxy.