The annual High-level Forum organized at the GSSD Expo seeks to bring together Directors General from cooperation agencies of national governments of the South engaged in or willing to work more in South-South and triangular cooperation. The Forum is a multi-stakeholder platform for South-South cooperation that offers an opportunity to make proposals for further mainstreaming South-South and triangular cooperation; to exchange ideas on policy, strategy, management capacity and institutional and financial tools; and to discuss the expected role of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and other United Nations organizations. In addition, the Forum is also intended to promote partnership-building opportunities and networking among Southern practitioners for scaling up South-South and triangular cooperation initiatives.
The 2017 Forum, co-organized by UNOSSC and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and hosted by the Government of the Republic of Turkey was titled, “ Voice of practitioners of South-South and triangular cooperation and the road towards the High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation” (BAPA+40 Conference). The Forum brought together lead practitioners and policymakers who are actively engaged in South-South and triangular cooperation and its fundamental objective was to provide a unique platform to share successful experiences and best practices, to promote innovative approaches and to leverage partnership opportunities. The Forum hosted discussions that can provide guidance to various partners for better engaging in South-South and triangular cooperation, including the creation of a common understanding of its guiding principles. This report is a compilation of the discussions and exchanges among participations in the Forum.
