Martin Khor, Executive Director of the South Centre, and H.E. Ravinatha Aryasinha, Chairman of the Personal Representatives of the Heads of State and Government of the Group of Fifteen (G-15), witness the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the South Centre, represented by Mr. Vicente Yu, Head of Administration, and the Group of Fifteen, represented by Mr. Gihan Indraguptha, Head of Office, in Geneva, 16 June 2016.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the South Centre and the Group of 15 Secretariats in Geneva on 16 June 2016.
The signing of the MoU of cooperation between the South Centre and the G-15 Secretariats is intended to promote the work of both institutions in the strengthening of the capacity of developing countries to better articulate their interests and perspectives in multilateral, regional and national forums.
The cooperation agreement includes key areas and actions such as mutual assistance in capacity building activities, organization of joint workshops, symposia training sessions on thematic issues, joint publications and summing efforts to enhance opportunities for South-South cooperation.
Speaking after the ceremony of signature of the MoU, H.E. Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Chairman of the Personal Representatives of the Heads of State and Government of the Group of Fifteen and the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, said that the MoU formalizes the cooperation already achieved by the two institutions, recalling that there has been successful outcomes of the briefings on SDGs, Post-2015 and Agenda 2030 jointly organized most recently and with high attendance by the Geneva based delegations and experts of international organizations. With the MoU, “there are now expectations of greater activities which will benefit both, member states of the two organizations and the entire Global South,” he said.
Executive Director of the South Centre, Mr. Martin Khor, recalled that both organizations have similar history and that they have been moving along in parallel tracks since their birth until now. The Executive Director of the South Centre said that the MoU is a step forward for both Secretariats in further promoting South-South cooperation. Developing countries’ delegates “need research, they need to get together to identify what their positions are in international relations, and share their experiences at international level with regard to their development policies,” said Mr. Khor.
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