Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require multi-stakeholder cooperation and partnership among governments, intergovernmental organizations, and different sectors and actors. In fact, SDG Goal 17, “Partnerships for the Goals”, specifically recognizes that global multi-stakeholder partnerships are important in achieving SDGs in all countries.

The South-South Cooperation is one such partnership that plays a key role in international cooperation for development and SDG attainment. The South-South Cooperation refers to the exchange of expertise between various actors in developing countries. By involving partners who face comparable challenges and by fostering capacity development taking local specificities into account, South-South cooperation has a distinctive value in contributing to the SDGs. Moreover, the space serves as a platform for continuous dialogue between peers to foster mutual understanding and align themselves around common goals, even among different countries and development actors.

UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) for Global Development Partnerships also supports effective development cooperation, including the South-South Cooperation, through cutting edge development research, policy dialogue, and knowledge-sharing on key development issues. Since 2014, UNDP Seoul Policy Centre has been working with various stakeholders in the global South to learn good practices of South-South Cooperation.

The Second High-level United Nations conference on South-South Cooperation in Buenos Aires  (BAPA+40) , which will take place from the 20^th to 22^nd in March 2019 in Argentina, will provide opportunities for partner countries to further the South-South Cooperation’s agenda. Ahead of this upcoming conference, ESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and UNDP organized a technical meeting from the 12^th to 13^th on February 2019 in Bangkok to share related perspectives and experiences around the cooperation.

The growing importance of the South-South Cooperation as a critical element of sustainable development and global partnerships was reiterated as a rich group of experts and specialists gathered for the two-day workshop and conference. Artemy Izmestiev, Policy Specialist at USPC, provided opening remarks and participated in the conference sessions, which included topics such as statistical reporting, conceptual frameworks, and finance and investments within the context of the cooperation and SDGs. Attendees included members from UN organizations, such as UNOSSC (United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation), and government organizations, such as TICA (Thailand International Cooperation Agency) and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), as well as professors and field experts from institutions like the Centre for African, Latin American and Caribbean Studies of Jindal Global University.

With just a month left until the BAPA+40 conference, USPC and international development communities look forward to the SDG-related achievements that will be made through the enhanced South-South Cooperation agenda.