Inter-regional expert meeting on the measurement of South-South cooperation

The inter-regional expert meeting on the measurement of South-South cooperation, organized by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), in collaboration with the UN Regional Commissions, and other partners will be hosted by and held in Qatar, Doha, from 4 to 6 June 2024.

This meeting is part of the United Nations Development Account project on Quantifying South-South Cooperation to Mobilize Funds for the Sustainable Development Goals. The first Expert Meeting held in Brasilia, in July 2023, launched the project and discussed implementation of the global, voluntary Framework to Measure South-South Cooperation, developed in a joint effort by the countries of the Global South. The Framework is currently being refined and will be presented in Qatar, through a Manual, a step-by-step guidance supporting countries to fill the Framework with data.

The Inter-regional expert meeting will have three segments. The morning of 4 June 2024, will be holding a preparatory expert meeting involving pioneering and pilot countries, jointly with project partners, to advance methodological and data collection work as a follow-up to the Brasilia meeting and finalize materials, like the Manual on the Framework, for sharing with a broader group of countries to guide future reporting of data on SDG indicator 17.3.1.  

The main meetings will commence in the afternoon of 4 June, with a high-level event to tackle strategic issues related to South-South cooperation, discussing the importance of South-South cooperation for accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the role of data in related research, development, and policy agendas. The high-level segment aims to agree on a way forward to enhance the voice of the global South in development finance debates.

Lastly, a two-day technical capacity development workshop will follow, on 5-6 June, to guide Southern countries on applying the Framework and its Manual to empower national authorities to collect and analyse data on South-South cooperation and enable the reporting of country-owned data to the SDG indicator on development support. The events will discuss countries’ capacity support needs, and future data and tools to enable strategic management and further mobilization of South-South cooperation flows.

The event aims to foster dialogue and empower Southern countries to collect and report their own data from country-owned systems. This effort helps to target national policy action and bolster strategic management of development support in the global South.

The target audience will include national, regional and international experts on South-South cooperation and its measurement from development cooperation agencies, statistical offices, and ministries. For the high-level segment, senior officials from countries, regional and international organizations, project partners, and the academic community are invited to discuss and agree on strategies for integration of the Framework to strengthen South-South cooperation.