Address by H.E. Ambassador Asoke K Mukerji, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations at the IBSA Special Event

  ‘IBSA FUND IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED NATIONS: SYMBOL OF SOUTH SOUTH COOPERATION AND SOLIDARITY’

(Date: 19 MAY 2014, Venue : CR-3, CB - United Nations, New York)

Thank you for giving me the floor, and I am indeed delighted to welcome all colleagues from the UN fraternity, from the IBSA partner countries, and friends from the civil society and media to this event showcasing the achievements of the IBSA journey in pursuit of the principles of South South cooperation.

The fact that we are meeting today on the sidelines of the 18th Session of the High Level Committee on South South Cooperation is indeed a very timely and pertinent occasion to look at how the IBSA Fund initiative has contributed to shaping the narrative of South South cooperation, in a manner that probably best utilises its partnership with the multilateral platform, and keeps us thereby collectively engaged in ensuring the success of South South cooperation.

It was more than ten years ago in 2003, when India, Brazil and South Africa announced at the United Nations General Assembly, their decision to establish a Trust Fund in partnership with the UNDP, with one singular aim : to contribute to, in our own ways, to eradicating poverty and alleviating hunger.

What subsequently became operational with a mere $ 3 million initial corpus has today grown into a fund with accumulated and invested operating capital of more than $ 27 million, with 15 success stories implemented, several others ongoing, and a fresh set, about to be rolled out this year. These are spread all across the spectrum of the entire developing world, as examples of best practices in our common fight against ‘the greatest global challenge’ of poverty eradication.

What you will hear from our distinguished colleagues from Sierra Leone, Palestine (where we have done 3 projects so far), Guinea Bissau and Vietnam, would be a first hand assessment of how the IBSA initiative assisted in achieving developmental objectives as determined by them, for them, and without ANY conditionalities in the name of aid effectiveness, that come inbuilt in the North South construct.

I would like to draw your attention to this particular page on the IBSA Fund Website where all national governments of respective partner countries have commented on how they see the IBSA projects as adding value to their development discourse.

I must also point out that  the partnership of the three countries, India Brazil and South Africa, through this Fund is just a small facet of the wide array of economic, political, scientific and social arenas that constitute the much larger fabric of IBSA landscape.

To us, the success of this Fund has been possible for two prime reasons:

One, three willing developing countries and the world's most vibrant democracies, India, Brazil & South Africa, inspite of their own resource constraints, and their own proportions of poor, were willing to partake in their solidarity with the South, and contribute their bit to the evolving narrative of South South Cooperation.

The second reason for its success, has been the receptivity and warmth of our fellow partner developing countries, be they from South East  Asia or West Asia, from Africa or CARICOM. Their own desire to implement and walk the extra mile in replicating success stories of the South, in keeping with the very fabric of South South cooperation has been pivotal, ALL at their demand, at their pace and for their own benefit.

The themes that the Fund has explored are exemplary in their objectives, issues of utmost critical importance to the developing world: promoting food security, addressing HIV/AIDS, extending access to safe drinking water, capacity building, building of hospitals for children with special needs- ALL with the singular aim of contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

In this context, as we are collectively engaged in crafting the post 2015 development agenda, it is our submission that joint initiatives of the South such as the IBSA Fund, which provide good examples of partnership with the UN Development System, i.e. the UNDP, through the UN Office for South South Cooperation, we must also attempt to find ways and means to enhance the operational efficiency and strength of the implementing arm, to deliver in a timely, responsive and efficient manner such development projects, on a priority basis.

The United Nations Development System is uniquely placed to embark upon this partnerhsip, primarily because of its global presence which spans across all developing countries. For example, in a location where IBSA does not have the ‘implementation outreach’ available, and the partner national government needs assistance, and where only UNDP has a presence, it should be willing to chip in and assist with a contributing hand, for which the IBSA Fund would obviously bear the costs involved, as it has done in all the projects so far. It is in this context, that the call for giving the UN Office for South Cooperation, the minimum basic resources it needs to implement its mandate needs to be looked at.

Let me also take this opportunity to briefly address this whole projection of  'increased burden sharing,' when such calls are placed upon the so called 'rising South'.  It's important to look at the context in which this  'call' is being placed:

First, the South does NOT see it as a 'burden' to help a fellow partner.  The Fund is simply an exercise in solidarity which is initiated only at the explicit request of a developing partner, and not imposed from outside.

Two, on India's national front, the IBSA Fund is an initiative in keeping with our longstanding commitment on South South Cooperation, in which we have already invested billions of dollars in capacity building in fellow developing countries ever since our independence.

Three, we are doing this inspite of our own domestic development challenges, and the vast swathes of poor people living in our own countries, not because we are oblivious to their needs, but because while addressing them we feel that it is also our responsibility to share our development experience with our partners in the developing world.

And that is precisely why this call for INCREASED burden sharing by the South alone, needs to be contextualised and revisited. We believe that such exercises in South South cooperation, can only complement or add value to our development experiences as voluntary initiatives, but simply CANNOT substitute or dilute the obligation and responsibility of the North by absolving them of ODA or aid flows.

With the fast paced changes on the South-South cooperation landscape, the United Nations needs to catch up with this new reality by responding to its paradigms and not seek to fit them into the traditional North- South aid construct.

We do hope that the UN Development System can respond to these evolving requirements, and through partnerships such as the IBSA Fund, assist developing countries, when they need such help, in replicating success stories. 

This will help us in achieving  an ambitious, bold and achievable post 2015 development agenda, and secure a safe and sound future for following generations.

I thank you.

******