Bandung to BRICS+: The Evolution of South-South Cooperation

Navodita Kumari

SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION has appeared as a defining theme in this era of multipolarity. The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) defines South-South Cooperation (SSC) as “a common endeavour of peoples and countries of the South, born out of shared experiences and sympathies, based on their common objectives and solidarity, and guided by, inter alia, the principles of respect for national sovereignty and ownership, free from any conditionalities.” Started as a common voice against colonialism, imperialism, and oppression, the SSC has now become a major platform through which the Global South countries exchange technological know-how, resources, and best practices to help each other in socio-economic development and growth. The emergence of this Third World solidarity  can be traced back to the Asian-African Conference, and  Bandung conference of 1955. The ‘Bandung Spirit,’ which symbolized the emergence of New Asia and New Africa, was described as “the spirit of love for peace, anti-violence, anti-discrimination, and development for all without trying to intervene for one another wrongly, but to pay a great respect to one another.” It became a guiding light for the emergence of the non-aligned movement (NAM), which allowed the newly emerged nation-states in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to remain free from the Cold War bloc politics and exercise strategic autonomy to safeguard their national interests. Thus, the Bandung Conference and NAM provided the political foundation for SSC, which later transformed into economic cooperation through platforms like the Group of 77 or G-77.

The divergent economic interests of the North and the South that came to the fore during the deliberations of the Preparatory Committee, established to finalise the agenda for the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), became the basis for the emergence of G-77 in 1964. The G-77 marked the institutionalisation of the SSC, which helped in enhancing the negotiating power of developing countries and promoting collective economic interests at the international level and within the United Nations system. The economic upheavals of the 1970s further advanced this agenda, which ultimately resulted in the adoption of the ‘Declaration and Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order’ by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974. Speaking at the Fourth Ministerial meeting of the grouping in 1979, Julius K Nyerere had pointed out that ‘complete liberation of the Third World countries from external domination’ is the very objective of the G-77. The term ‘complete liberation’ meant the end of economic dependence of the developing countries on the industrialised North in every form and the establishment of a fairer international economic order. Thus, while NAM advanced the political and diplomatic freedom of the global south countries, the G-77 echoed the same freedom in the economic domain. Furthermore, the establishment of UNDP’s special unit for SSC in 1974 expanded cooperation and coordination among the developing countries in different arenas. Later renamed as the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), the platform facilitates knowledge sharing and technology transfer, promotes innovative development solutions, and helps implement climate change adaptation funds (such as IBSA and India-UNDP Fund) primarily to ‘enable developing countries to pursue more resilient and sustainable development.’

The latter half of the 1970s and early 1980s saw greater emphasis on enhancing technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC). These efforts resulted in the first-ever United Nations Conference on TCDC in 1978 in Buenos Aires. The conference adopted the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA), which ‘sets out a comprehensive conceptual and operational framework for the promotion of TCDC.’ Following this the UN High Level Committee on Technical Cooperation was established in 1980, which in its report titled ‘New Direction for Cooperation Among Developing Countries’ in 1995 highlighted that although TCDC has not been fully integrated into the United Nations system but the concept remains valid and should focus on major themes such as poverty alleviation, production and employment, debt, trade and investment, among others. Thus, BAPA became a guiding light for strengthening cooperation in the technical arena among developing countries.

Diagram 1: Evolution of South-South Cooperation

Source: https://cooperacionsursur.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/18-DT05-Chrono-South-South2014.pdf#:~:text=in%201990%20resulted%20in%20the%20establishment%20of%20the%20South%20Centre%2C%20an&text=slogan%20on%20South%2DSouth%20Cooperation»11%20(1980)%2C%20«South%2DSouth.

SSC in the Era of BRICS and BRICS+

The post-Cold War era was largely characterised by globalisation and economic liberalisation, and SSC during this period, called ‘SSC 2.0’, shifted towards development cooperation and trade. In this expansionary phase, SSC became more visible with the emergence of groupings and forums such as the IBSA Forum, BRICS, IAFS (India-Africa Forum Summit), etc. Among these, BRICS emerged as the largest platform for enhancing horizontal cooperation by challenging the North-led inequities, particularly in the commercial and financial arena. As raised by the NIEO, the reform in the Bretton Woods system to create a transparent and democratic global economic order has been a key demand of BRICS since its first Summit in 2009. Demands such as a reform in the governance structure of the IMF ‘to increase the quota allotted to developing countries’ and to enhance representation of developing countries in the administrative structure of the World Bank and the IMF have been successful due to greater cooperation among the BRICS countries. However, despite these reforms, BRICS has established its own financial institutions and currency swap arrangements, such as the New Development Bank (NDB) and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA), largely to reduce dependence on West-led international financial institutions (IFIs).

The BRICS-led NDB was launched in July 2015 to mobilise ‘resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs).’ Since its inception, NDB has financed 108 projects worth USD 35.6 billion in various sectors such as social and digital infrastructure, clean energy, transportation, environmental protection, water and sanitation, creating ground-level impacts in developing countries (see Table 1). To give an example, NDB has financed the ‘Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project’ in India, which has provided a fast and reliable public transport system for people living in surrounding areas and has improved access to education and job opportunities, particularly for vulnerable groups.

Table 1: Project Portfolio by Area of Cooperation in NDB

Source: https://www.ndb.int/projects/

Furthermore, the Contingent Reserve Arrangement has provided a new impetus to the SSC framework by moving towards a transparent economic architecture. Announced in the Durban BRICS Summit, CRA is a ‘USD 100 billion pooled reserve fund (see diagram 2) created to help emerging nations deal with liquidity shortages and to strengthen financial systems during a crisis.’ Established as a regional safety net for developing economies, CRA can provide financial stability to Global South countries from macroeconomic volatility, primarily at a time when reforms in IFIs are moving at a very slow pace. The governance architecture of CRA is quite democratic in nature. Although it resembles the IMF’s quota-based voting distribution for operational decisions, it does not provide veto power to any single entity party to the arrangement, making the environment consensus-driven.

Moving forward, the successful political, economic, and diplomatic coordination among the five BRICS countries has led them to make it more inclusive and multilateral by admitting countries from Southeast Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The new members, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran, joined the grouping formally in 2024, representing the mature institutional phase of SSC. Marking an inflection point in the SSC, this expansion would not only help BRICS members present their demands more emphatically at the global stage, but it would also strengthen their aim to move away from the Western-dominated international order. The call for de-dollarization at the 2024 Kazan Summit emphasizes a critical geoeconomic shift in an era where protectionist policies and tariff diplomacy are taking center stage. Accounting for 40% of the world economy and 49.5% of the global population, BRICS nations have vast market potential with a huge consumer base. Thus, BRICS countries have the rigor and diplomatic clout to further strengthen SSC and create a more inclusive, multilateral, equitable, and representative international system where the voice of developing countries is not suppressed under the weight of ‘white man’s burden.’

Diagram 2: BRICS Countries Contribution to CRA

Source: Created by author from https://brics.br/en/about-the-brics/new-development-bank#:~:text=The%20Contingent%20Reserve%20Arrangement%20(CRA,needed%20to%20request%20CRA%20resources.

The transformation of SSC from the Bandung Spirit to BRICS+ has been a remarkable journey representing the resilience and commitment of developing nations to make their voice heard in the almost North-led and North-dominated global order. However, power asymmetry, fragmentation, and competition among the Global South countries are some of the key obstacles in the path of SSC. To succeed in the unequal global system, countries must prioritize cooperation and collaboration instead of competition.

[ Navodita Kumari is an Intern at COGGS and PhD Research Scholar at University of Allahabad, India. ]