India, UN launch capacity building initiative

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• Global South
• What constitutes the Global South?
• Which countries make up the Global South?
• India Emerged As The Voice Of Global South
• News Summary: India, UN launch capacity building initiative
• Key highlights

Why in news?

• India and the United Nations have jointly launched an initiative aimed at building the capacity of countries in the Global South.
• The goal is to share India's development experiences, best practices, and expertise through capacity-building and training programs.

What constitutes the Global South?

• Not a geographical line
  • Despite how it sounds, it is not really a geographical term.
  • Many countries included in the Global South are in the northern hemisphere, such as India, China and all of those in the northern half of Africa.
  • Australia and New Zealand, both in the southern hemisphere, are not in the Global South.
  • The Global South is a geographical, geopolitical, historical and developmental concept, all at the same time — with exceptions.
• Brandt Line as the border
  • Many people refer to the Brandt Line as the border.
    • The line was proposed by former German Chancellor Willy Brandt in the 1980s as a visual depiction of the north-south divide based upon per-capita GDP.
  • It starts in the north of Mexico, goes across the top of Africa and the Middle East, makes a loop around India and China, and then goes down to include most of East Asia. It doesn't include Japan, Australia, or New Zealand.
  • 

Which countries make up the Global South?

• The term ‘Global South’ began by loosely referring to those countries that were left out of the industrialisation era.
• It broadly comprises countries in the regions of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (excluding Israel, Japan, and South Korea), and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand).
• For the U.N., Global South is something of a shortcut to refer to developing countries in general.
  • The U.N. currently lists 181 jurisdictions as developing countries or territories, and 67 jurisdictions as developed.
• Some use different criteria, such as whether a country was previously colonized or whether a nation's per-capita GDP is above $15,000.

India Emerged As the Voice Of Global South

• One of the various visions of G20 presidency
  • When India assumed the G20 presidency on December 1, 2022, it set out various visions for the nation's year-long presidency and the Global South was one of them.
  • India organized eight ministerial-level thematic segments to address the most pressing concerns of the developing world.
• India Raised the issues concerning Global South on the international forums and at the UN meetings and conferences.
• During Covid-19 pandemic: Made-in-India vaccines were sent to about 100 countries. And about 150 nations imported medicines during this period from the Pharmacy of the World.
• India Hosted the Voice of Global South Summit virtually in January 2023 with representatives from 125 countries.
  • India even ensured that the region remained centre stage at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima.
• African Union as a full member of the G20 under India’s presidency.
• The 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa
  • During this summit, PM Modi said that the Global South is not just a diplomatic term but represents the shared history of these countries against colonialism and apartheid based on which modern relations are being reshaped.
• 2-day event on international taxation at National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT).
  • This event was an initiative of the Indian Presidency to bolster capacity building for Indian tax officials in the area of International Taxation, with a global south perspective.

News Summary: India, UN launch capacity building initiative

• The “India-UN Capacity Building Initiative” was announced at the event “India-UN for the Global South-Delivering for Development”.
• As part of this initiative, the UN India team and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will partner together.
• This partnership will leverage India's Technical and Economic Cooperation platform to share India's development experiences and best practices across the world.

Key highlights

• Operationalise development-relevant deliverables of India's G20 Presidency. Hence, it is seen as a big boost to India’s G20 Presidency. This includes:
  • the G20 Action Plan for Accelerating Progress on the SDGs,
  • technological transformation and building Digital Public Infrastructure.
• Complements the India-UN partnership in the form of “India-UN Development Partnership Fund”.
  • This fund has reportedly developed a portfolio of 75 development projects in 61 countries in the last 6 years.
• Significance
  • Contribution to global efforts towards accelerating momentum for achieving the SDGs by strengthening South-South Cooperation.
  • Reflects India's continuing efforts to strengthen its development partnership with the Global South.
  • It builds upon the extensive cooperation in development and capacity building that India already has bilaterally with partner countries.

Q1) What is South-South Cooperation?

South-South Cooperation (SSC) refers to collaborative efforts, partnerships, and exchanges of resources, knowledge, and technologies among countries in the global South, which includes developing and emerging economies in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. This form of cooperation is distinct from the more traditional North-South cooperation, which involves interactions between developed countries (the global North) and developing countries (the global South). 

Q2) What is India-UN Development Partnership Fund?

The India-UN Development Partnership Fund, often referred to as the India-UN Fund, is a collaborative initiative between the Government of India and the United Nations system to support development projects in partner countries. This fund was established in 2017 with the goal of promoting South-South cooperation and sharing India's expertise, experience, and resources with other developing countries to achieve their sustainable development objectives.

Source: India, UN launch capacity building initiative to boost growth in Global South | Time | Times of India | Times Now | India Today