December 19th has been declared United Nations Day for South-to-South cooperation.

The United Nations Day for South-to-South cooperation  envisions inclusive development, the sharing of knowledge and resources between southern countries themselves and creating new markets to develop a broader foundation for sustainable economic growth. Humana People to People members participate in various ways in South-to-South Cooperation, one example is the exchange of expertise between different projects, sending qualified and experienced personnel to projects in other countries where specific qualities are needed.

South-South Cooperation: The Making of a History

 

1949	The UN Economic and Social Council establishes the first UN technical aid programme.
1955	Newly independent African and Asian States meet in Bandung, Indonesia, and decide to work together at the UN as the Afro-Asian Group.
1964	The idea of economic cooperation among developing countries results in the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). At the first UNCTAD, Latin American countries join with African and Asian countries to create the Group of 77.
1965	The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is created.
1972	The UN General Assembly creates a Working Group on technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC) that recommends the creation of a special unit for TCDC.
1974	The General Assembly, in its resolution A/3251 (XXIX), endorses "the estabishment of a special unit within the United Nations Development Programme to promote technical cooperation among developing countries...with the objective of integrating this activitiy of technical co-operation among developing countries fully within the Programme".
1978	A conference of the global South on TCDC is held in Buenos Aires, resulting in the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA) for Promoting and Implementing TCDC. It identifies 15 focal areas for TCDC and stipulates that special attention be paid to the least developed countries, the landlocked developing countries, and the small island developing States.
1980	The countries participating in UNDP become established as a High-level Committee of the General Assembly that would meet every two years to monitor the implementation of BAPA.
2000	The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), based on priorities set out in the UN Millennium Declaration, are adopted by the UN General Assembly (resolution 55/2).
2003	The UN General Assembly, in its resolution 58/220, decides to declare 19 December, the date on which it had endorsed BAPA, as the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. The first UN Day for SSC is to be celebrated in 2004.
2004	The Special Unit for TCDC has a new name: the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SU/SSC). The new name reflects the increased importance and expanded focus of cooperation among developing countries. The decision to change the name was adopted by the High-level Committee at its thirteenth session in May 2003 (decision 13/2) and endorsed by the General Assembly in its resolution 58/220 of 19 February 2004.
2005	The 2005 Group of Eight (G-8) meeting at Gleneagles, Scotland, underscores the new geography of trade, investment and intellectual relations that involved such fast-track performers as Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Thailand. Flanking the G-8 Heads of Government are the leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, a tacit acknowledgement that even with increased Northern commitments of official development assistance (ODA) and enhanced debt cancellation, the Millennium Development Goals cannot be met without increased South-South interactions and assistance.
2009	The High-level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation is held in Nairobi, Kenya. At this conference, participants produce the Nairobi outcome document highlighting the roles that national governments, regional entities and UN agencies are to play in supporting and implementing South-South and triangular cooperation.