2021 Inter-Regional Dialogue and Stocktaking for Advancing South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the Arab States, Europe and the Cis
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COVID-19 RESPONSE AND RECOVERY: PUBLIC POLICY LEADERSHIP AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS United Nations Oce for South-South Cooperation 2021 INTER-REGIONAL DIALOGUE AND STOCKTAKING FOR ADVANCING SOUTH-SOUTH AND TRIANGULAR COOPERATION IN THE ARAB STATES, EUROPE AND THE CIS 6-8 APRIL 2021 SUMMARY REPORT Organised by the Division for Arab States, Europe and the CIS, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation Istanbul, Turkey Structure of the Report First and foremost, only salient points have been reflected across the report due to space constraints, though some of which have been intentionally repeated for further considerations and follow-up. Hopefully, this report will also be very informative to other interested stakeholders. Following the Introduction, Section I provides the key takeaways and possible opportunities from each day. It ends with some follow-up commitments from the UNOSSC Division for Arab States, Europe and the CIS. Section II provides a summary of remarks of speakers. Speakers’ understanding is sought for any inadvertent omissions. All received written statements, presentations and transcripts of recordings are in file with the organising team. Annex contains a set of background documents, including the source link to obtain the summary report of the 12th Edition of the High-level Forum of Directors General for Development Cooperation (17-19 March 2021), when it becomes available. This is to complement the discussions on Day 2. 2 Table of Contents Introduction . 4 Section I: Key Takeaways and Possible Opportunities . 6 Day 1 . 6 Day 2 . 9 Day 3 . 11 UNOSSC’s Follow-up Commitments . 13 Section II: Summary of Remarks . .15 Day 1 . 15 Day 2 . 26 Day 3 . 34 Annex . 46 Profiles of Speakers . 46 Other Useful Resources and Links . 70 3 Introduction Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, an integrated and coordinated international response has increasingly gained its necessity in confronting this crisis at country, regional and global levels, as well as in overcoming the challenges facing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The 2021 UN World Economic Situation and Prospects report underscored that sustained recovery from the pandemic will depend not only on the size of the stimulus measures, and the quick roll-out of vaccines, but also on the quality of these measures to build resilience against future shocks. Appropriate policy and institutional reforms, including human resources capacities, will undoubtedly accelerate the mobilisation of resources and encourage international and regional partners to finance development efforts. During the 19th session of the UN Committee of Experts on Public Administration in May 2020, held under the overall theme of “promoting effective governance and institutional reform to accelerate delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals”, with particular reference to the COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery, recommended actions to: • Strengthen public sector capabilities for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); • Invest in the future public sector workforce; and • Expand the use of digital technologies and address digital divides. The Committee also stressed the importance of strengthening the capacity of institutions and re-establishing credible governance and public administration institutions in countries affected by conflict. Finally, the Committee reiterated the important role of subnational governments in delivering the SDGs, and that more efforts are needed to strengthen local government finance and financial management through concerted global actions. This is key in order to address severe budgetary challenges and financial risks, that Governments are currently facing at the subnational level. Throughout the pandemic, countries in the Arab States and Europe and the CIS regions focused on solutions through innovations in public administration. Evidence showed that the transfer of knowledge and the ‘know-how’, especially through South-South, East-East and triangular cooperation, can, with minimal cost, help countries to solve some of their pressing problems. The BAPA+40 outcome document of the second UN High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation in 2019 also underlined the imperative for sharing knowledge, experiences, best practices, and homegrown development approaches. However, today’s challenges are no longer confined to one country or region, they transcend boundaries and affect peoples and communities disproportionately. This is where collective action, solidarity, international cooperation, and multilateralism are so crucial. South-South cooperation (SSC), as a complement to North-South cooperation, continues to play a prominent role for achieving sustainable development. Within this ever-growing space, many efforts are already under way among countries and within the UN system to leverage this form of cooperation in supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as well as other internationally agreed development goals. The BAPA +40 outcome document also reaffirmed the role of UN system entities in this endeavour, including the UN Country Teams (UNCTs), and called on the entities to continue supporting regional and sub-regional organisations. It is worth noting that a significant number of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs) and COVID-19 Socio-Economic Impact Assessments (SEIAs) carried out by the UNCTs, underline the importance of South-South, East-East and triangular cooperation, and regional and inter-regional integration and cooperation, covering several sectors and themes. 4 Within the above overall context, Day 1 of the Inter-regional Dialogue focused on identifying key public policy challenges and opportunities. The Objectives Day 2 deep-dove into the key outcomes of the 12th Edition of the High-level Forum of Directors General for Development 1. Identify key public policy challenges Cooperation, which took place during in the context of COVID-19 response 17-19 March 2021, and identified and recovery, while exploring current key opportunities and demands for and emerging demands for support; strengthening national capacities for South- South, East-East and triangular cooperation 2. Deliberate on opportunities for in the two regions, including from the strengthened inter-, intra- and sub- perspective of durable peace in the Arab regional collaboration, through region. evidence-based examples and partnership modalities, and Day 3 brought together the UN system for recommend actions to overcome a conversation on how to scale-up support challenges and bottlenecks; to national and regional development priorities through South-South, East- 3. Discuss the role of a national East and triangular cooperation. It also architecture for South-South, East- discussed the roll-out of the first ever UN East and triangular cooperation, System-wide Strategy on South-South and and key elements for making those Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable institutions more effective and Development. In addition, the session efficient; provided a platform for the participants to 4. Discuss how the UN system entities share successful innovative approaches and can, in a more systematic and coherent examples in public policy leadership, as manner, support South-South, East- well as SSTC for possible adaption and/or East and triangular efforts of partner scaling up in other countries facing similar countries both at the regional and challenges. country levels, to enhance the impact of UN operational activities for All sessions were enriched by renowned development; and public policy experts, directors general for development cooperation, other senior 5. Serve as a platform for sharing public officials, senior and technical level experience, networking, finding UN representatives, representatives from synergies, complementarity and international financial institutions, regional optimisation of capacities and inter-governmental organisations, and think resources towards collective actions tanks. There were over 200 registrants in Arab states, Europe and the CIS. from over 40 countries, across Arab states, Europe and the CIS, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America. On behalf of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, the core organising team would like to thank everyone whose support and collaboration made this meeting possible, especially under current challenging operating environment. We are particularly grateful to the representatives of those institutions that gave their valuable time to contribute to each session. — Zanofer Ismalebbe, Sayyora Arifdjanova, Tingwei Yin, Alyssa Chhim and Naylya Berezovskaya 5 Section I: Key Takeaways and Possible Opportunities Section I: Key Takeaways and Possible Opportunities Day 1: Tuesday, 6 April 2021 The Opening and Long-term Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Regional and Inter-regional Policy Coherence and Integration: Challenges and Opportunities for South-South and Triangular Cooperation • The impact of COVID-19 pandemic is beyond imaginable. The effects of the COVID-19 crisis have exacerbated the profound economic and existing social inequalities and revealed the weakness of the current economic development models. Without sustained collective action, the pandemic could leave a legacy of widening inequalities within and between nations, with the most vulnerable left further behind. • One group of countries is recovering on the back of strong stimulus measures, while many others are sinking deeper into a cycle of poverty, unsustainable debt, and austerity due