Need for Stronger South South Cooperation

There are hardly any reliable figures available as yet on the effects of the crisis on South-South trade and South-South direct investment. The pronounced growth of past years will be somewhat slowed but will continue, according to Khalil Hamdani, Special Adviser of the South Centre in Geneva (Hamdani 2009).

China also made bilateral monetary swaps in the billions to, among others, Korea, Hong Kong, Indon (...) A good example of strengthened South-South cooperation is the expansion of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) multilateral credit agreement. In February 2009 the finance ministers of these countries plus China, Japan and Korea raised the scope of this Chiang Mai Initiative to USD 120 billion (ASEAN 2009).13

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. See also Agencia de Prensa d (...) 27In May 2009 seven South American States14 founded the Bank of the South with a capital to be paid in of USD 7 billion to finance development projects. Also under discussion is an expansion on the lines of a monetary union or a monetary stabilisation fund (Ugarteche and Ortiz 2009). In April 2008 the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas group of Latin American States resolved on a joint monetary council, a reference currency for their inter-State trade, a chamber for payment compensation and a reserve fund for trade transactions (Cassen 2008).

The author mentions Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU). But she also calls for (...) Morais de Sa e Silva sees a certain danger for South-South cooperation (Morais de Sa e Silva 2009). South-South projects are being increasingly funded by ODA.15 Such triangular projects could fall victim to reduced ODA.