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North-South, South-South and Triangular Cooperation

In recent years, the international community became cognizant that international cooperation, namely:

• North-South cooperation,
• South-South cooperation, and
• Triangular cooperation,

are imperative to promote inclusive and sustainable development, especially in view of achieving internationally agreed development agenda.

Africa not only engages in the traditional North-South cooperation, but also in South-South and triangular cooperation, in particular with emerging economies, including:

• Arab countries,
• BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South-Africa),
• Korea, and
• Turkey.

The Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) recognises the importance of these partnerships for enhancing and consolidating the growth of the continent. The Office therefore encourages and promotes the convening of forums on South-South and triangular cooperation, with a view to enabling African countries to benefit from the sharing of experiences, technical assistance as well as cooperation on the part of other developing and emerging countries.

As part of these efforts, OSAA has produced two reports on:

• Infrastructure and Development Within the Context of Africa's Cooperation with New and Emerging Development Partners (OSAA-NEPAD-UNECA, 2015)
• Africa's Cooperation with New and Emerging Development Partners: Options for Africa's Development (OSAA, 2010)

Tokyo International Conference of Africa’s Development (TICAD)

OSAA:

• Promotes international cooperation to enhance Africa’s peace, security and development; and
• Provides support to various cooperation forums, particularly South-South forums. 

For instance, OSAA is currently one of the five co-organizers of the Tokyo International Conference of Africa’s Development (TICAD) that was launched in 1993 to promote relations between multilateral cooperation and partnership, with particularly Japan, on Africa’s development, peace and security. The other co-organizers are:

• The Government of Japan,
• The African Union Commission,
• The World Bank, and
• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The TICAD process, which is a multilateral partnership, actively promotes South-South and triangular cooperation in addition to traditional cooperation.

Many bilateral and multilateral partners participate in the TICAD process under the twin principles of “African ownership and international partnership.”

New Forms of Support

Through different forums, OSAA encourages Africa's development partners to expand support in various forms, namely:

• Foreign direct investment,
• Increased financial and technical assistance,
• Trade liberalization,
• Increased credit guarantee financing, and
• Support for small and medium-scale enterprises, among other things.