South-south trade could help beat crisis

Southern hemisphere countries need to grow trade between themselves in order to weather the current global storm, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) secretary-general Supachai Panitchpakdi. Unctad estimates developing world exports (mainly commodities) could decline by 9.2% in 2009. Opening Unctad’s “Multi- Year Expert Meeting on International Cooperation: South-South Cooperation and Regional Integration” in Geneva recently, Panitchpakdi said “the timing is right to explore how greater South-South cooperation can help developing countries to cope with the crisis.” Merchandise trade between developing countries grew at an average of 13% per year from 1995-2007, amounting to US$2.4 trillion, or 20% of world trade. One-third of these exports were high-skill manufactured goods, which yielded high profits and were enabling developing nations to diversify their economies.