South and North interdependent for continued development

South and North interdependent for continued development – Foreign Minister

Mar 20, 2013 News

With ambitious plans to build on its recently improved status reflected in the 2013 Human Development Index, Guyana is poised for even more advancement.

UNDP’s Resident Representative, Khadija Musa

At least this is the view of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who recently asserted that “Guyana will continue on the path of human development. I would like to see us move up the rankings more rapidly, but I am nevertheless pleased in the circumstances that we have been able to move up.”
The occasion was the launching of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Human Development Report, which places Guyana at a ranking of 118, up one place from the previous year. This development comes even as focus is being directed to the Southern Hemisphere in the Report titled ‘The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World’.
According to Minister Rodrigues-Birkett “while the prospects for the South and North are not neutrally exclusive, in fact they are interdependent more than ever; the North needs the South now.”
Building on her argument, the Minister pointed to the fact that although the United States remains the world’s largest economy in monetary terms, it continues to be one of Guyana’s largest trading partners.
“So we are not necessarily seeing this as South against North, but together we can be able to move this world to a place where we would all like to see it.”
And even as forward collaborative movements are embraced, the Minister alluded to the fact that the United Nations is currently “very actively engaged” in looking at the post-2015 development agenda for the Millennium Development Goals.
“As we look at that agenda and the sustainable development goals, we must consider the situation of small heavily indebted, highly vulnerable countries in that setting…I am glad that the Report also speaks to environmental sustainability, because that underscores everything else we do.”
Speaking to the ‘Rise of the South’ notion, UNDP’s Resident Representative, Khadija Musa, emphasised the details of the Report, which state that the development recorded in the South has over the years been unprecedented in its speed and scale. She alluded to observations that “never in history has living conditions and prosperity for so many people changed so dramatically and so fast.”
The historic progress, according to her, is creating opportunities for the South and the North to collaborate in new ways to enhance human development and to confront challenges such as climate change. She amplified that countries across the South are extending trade, technology and policies tied through the North, “while North is looking South for new partnership that can promote global growth and development.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

Moreover, Musa noted that the South, as a whole, is driving global economic growth and societal change for the first time in centuries and according to the UNDP’s administrator, Helen Clark, the Report makes a significant contribution to developmental thinking. This is done by describing specific drivers of development transformation and by suggesting further policy priorities that could help sustain the momentum, Musa added.
Some countries, she pointed out, have been very proactive and have committed to long term development by actively promoting job creation, enhancing public investment in health and education and nurturing industrial capacities. It was also emphasised that countries are tapping into global markets by investing in people to make the best of trade opportunities and are investing in infrastructure to facilitate access to markets and expanding into non-traditional markets.
And in terms of social policy innovations, Musa added that countries from the South are investing heavily in some areas.
“For example, Turkey has introduced health care for all, especially emphasising on the poor; Brazil is expanding education access by equalising funds across regions and municipalities and Mexico is focusing on poverty reduction.”
According to Musa, the rise of the South and its potential for escalation progress for future generations should be seen as beneficial for all countries of the regions, since as living standards improve, the world as a whole will become more interdependent.