Oct 02, 2015 China recently announced a series of concrete initiatives to support developing countries at a South-South cooperation roundtable co-hosted by China and the United Nations.
In his address, president Xi admonished countries to strive for development in an equitable manner. He also added that they should adhere to a level of openness and allow parties to benefit from their development achievements.
Commenting on the initiative, Alexander Gusev, director of the Institute for Strategic Planning of the Russian Federation said:
“When we mention South-South cooperation, we have to see the great and positive role that China is playing in that. On one hand, China is our good neighbor. On the other hand, China can always make its great concepts come true. So what President Xi Jinping mentioned is very important for us,”
At the roundtable, a four-point proposal was put forth to push forward collaboration between developing countries in the new era. Speaking on the proposal, Dr. Adam Oloo, a professor at University of Nairobi said:
“The biggest message from this, China talking about the South-South cooperation, is that here you have a country which will be out there to kind of give you the necessary capital to match the other factors of production so that you can make a start,”
According to Dr Oloo, the $2 million support fund earmarked for the South-South initiative could ease the burden on many African countries that lack development capital.