Shanghai district promotes SS cooperation

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-11 06:34

UNITED NATIONS: Yangpu, a district in the northeast part of Shanghai City in east China, used to be home to the oldest water works, the first power plant and the earliest machine weaving factory in the Asian country.

Less than a year ago, the Shanghai district became host of the UN-assisted South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange (SS- GATE), which explores ways of increasing the flow of technologies and finance in addition to the existing technology shows, exhibitions and development cooperations.

"Today is a red-letter day for our Yangpu District, simply because we are at the United Nations to present China, Shanghai and Yangpu to the world, and to show our decision to promote the South-South Cooperation," Chen Anjie, secretary of the Yangpu District Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said at a briefing here on Monday.

The briefing was held at the UN Headquarters in New York to dwell on the progress of SS-GATE. The event, chaired by Dominican Ambassador to the UN Francis Lorenzo, attracted delegates from 26 developing countries.

SS-GATE was set up in Yangpu District in November 2008, and was put into operation on December 9, 2008, marking the beginning of the Cooperation between the district and the Special Unit for South- South Cooperation, part of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

To help developing countries address such issues as the lack of finance for development and no access to technology and investment, the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation launched the SS-GATE system, which is aimed at establishing virtual and physical venues where entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and local governments in developing countries can interact and obtain needed technology, asset and finance in a secure environment.

SS-GATE is a pioneering project, and it is starting relatively small so that the concept can be tested and refined and can build on its growing expertise.

Chen told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that SS-GATE is also aiming at promoting the technical advancement of the developing countries and helping them out of poverty at an early date.

So far there have been nearly 1,000 listed programs at SS-GATE and materialized programs worth 100 million U.S. dollars, Chen said. "This achievement, against a backdrop of the current global financial crisis, is really remarkable."

At present, SS-GATE has 18 work stations, and plans to increase to 30 this year and up to 100 in two to three years, Chen said.

"With one work station for each country, SS-GATE builds the platform where we can learn from other developing countries and help secure the flow of technology from developed countries to the developing nations," Chen said.

"It also brings talents and funds into Yangpu and help promote the development of our local economy," Chen said. "That's why we attach great importance to it."

Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, special advisor to the UN secretary- general and under-secretary-general, told the briefing that SS- GATE addresses at least two of the most critical challenges faced by the developing countries in their progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) -- access to technology and capital.

"Poorer countries typically lack both channels to reach out of affordable and appropriate technological innovation, as well as to require financial resources worldwide," Gambari said. "With the current world financial crisis, the availability of critical resources cast even more impact on the results of development in many Southern countries."

"SS-GATE supports developing countries in finding the right partners and needed resources for technology transfer and investment globally," Gambari said. "It provides a unique vehicle for Southern countries to participate in the global market."

"The market-driven and regulated global mechanism that SS-GATE provides invigorates the development process in developing countries by involving private and public sectors, governments and civil societies," he said. "The multilateral system will trigger a dynamic momentum to strengthen South-South and Triangular Cooperation for development."

"The United Nations systems value the establishment of such innovative mechanisms as SS-GATE, as it addresses these roadblocks for development goals for developing countries through South-South and Triangular Cooperation, which leads to ultimate goal for peace and prosperity for all humankind," he said.

Also speaking at the briefing, Zhou Yiping, director the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, recalled his visit to Yangpu District in September 2008, saying that "the visit has left me, as well as other high-level delegates from the United Nations, with a deep impression."

"We were fortunate to have witnessed through the exciting moments, how Shanghai Yangpu District, a vibrantly developing district in the South, has shown its full capacity of being an appropriate host for an important global initiative, to bring development results through South-South Cooperation to potentially all other developing countries," Zhou said.

To date, interactional development communities have made much efforts in search of innovative solutions to advance the MDGs for the South, he said. "Among the abundance of solutions, what has been missing is a self-sustaining global exchange platform for effective transfer of technologies and resources for the South."

"SS-GATE is such a long-awaited innovative solution modeled after successful practices in developing countries and for the benefits of developing countries in the South," he said. "SS-GATE is a sustainable platform that facilitates market-driven and transparent exchanges of technology, assets, services, and financial resources among the private sector, public sector and civil society for inclusive growth of countries in the South."