We, civil society organizations from different regions, strongly recognise the important contribution of South-South Cooperation in responding to the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda. Not only is it a valuable complement to North-South cooperation in terms of development financing, it is also a means to promote effective development through learning and sharing technical and economic
knowledge, as well as skills to facilitate development among developing countries. SSC, notwithstanding, is fraught with challenges that could potentially undermine the objectives of international development cooperation.

SSC providers such as China and India have taken the same approach as Northern aid providers by substantially tying their aid through hiring of their own local companies to implement projects in partner countries, thus raising unit costs, limiting local spillover effects, and reducing effectiveness. Southern multilateral development banks (MDBs) still need to develop formal allocation mechanisms instead of spreading financing across particular areas of interest to the countries that dominate these institutions. Furthermore, these MDBs such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank need to institute space for substantial participation of CSOs in the development, monitoring, and evaluation of their strategies, policies, and projects. In this context, we are concerned about the adverse environmental and social implications of infrastructure projects in the partner countries, that have brought about displacement of communities, and land grabs.