Statement by India at the 66th Session of the Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD under Item 2(d)- South-South cooperation for trade, investment and    structural transformation, delivered by Mr. Animesh Choudhury, First Secretary on 25th June 2019 in Geneva.

Madam President,

            India believes that the reasons for the growing success of south-south cooperation are rooted in the principles that define and characterize south-south cooperation, which are very different from the tradition donor driven aid. 

2.The inherent spirit of equality and solidarity; the similar experiences and concerns; the primacy of priorities of the partners; the flexibility of the modes of partnerships; the non-prescriptive nature of assistance all have contributed to the growing success of the south-south cooperation.

Madam President,

3.Development partnership occupies a paramount place in India’s foreign policy. India's external development assistance programmes in developing countries have        increased significantly in their scope and coverage in the past few years. The assistance is based on two main pillars; first, development cooperation is rooted in the idea of          partnership that is working for mutual benefit and mutual prosperity. Second pillar of India’s development cooperation is that our partners determine and decide the priorities and   contours of their development projects. This fundamentally differentiates our “partnership model” from the traditional “donor-recipient model”.

4.Based on this understanding, we ensure that our cooperation is extended on the request received from friendly countries. The roadmap of this cooperation is drawn in a transparent manner. The core objective of India’s Development Cooperation is to create lasting public goods through sharing of adequate, affordable and adaptable technologies. The focus is also on enhancing local capacities so that our partners can further improve upon the benefits of this cooperation.

Thank You.