Webinar: Regional, Sub-regional and Interregional Organizations in the Global South as Actors in Responding to COVID-19

Background

The socio-economic impacts of the novel COVID-19 pandemic are echoed in countries and regions all over the globe. The geographic, economic, and political circumstances of the countries have been defining the response packages. However, each country has a different starting point and an initial response to the pandemic considering the time-shifted outbreak of the virus. Hence, most countries acted individually to combat COVID-19 by implementing emergency response strategies such as nation-wide lockdowns. Consequently, borders have been closed and supply chains have been disrupted.

In this nationalist wave of approaching the pandemic, it soon became clear that there is an urgent need for international cooperation and global solidarity in order to tackle this crisis together and not leave anyone behind.  International organizations, including the United Nations, have called for joint approaches and cooperation on the international and regional level. The WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that “this is a time for all of us to be united in our common struggle against a common threat – a dangerous enemy. When we are divided, the virus exploits the cracks between us.”

Regional approaches provide one option of international development cooperation, which have been highly demanded as a discussion topic during the webinars of the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre´s and UNOSSC’s previous webinar series on COVID-19 and the possible implications for international development cooperation. Fundamental crises like this can also bear high potential to create new initiatives for regional, sub-regional and interregional cooperation. It is encouraging to see responses from many such cooperation organizations and mechanisms in the form of joint statements and regional sub-regional and interregional  strategies for knowledge exchange, analyzing best practices and collective research and initiatives to deal with this pandemic which knows no borders. The Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been establishing platforms for knowledge exchange to engage with other countries and regional organizations through video conferences. Other organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and MERCOSUR introduced emergency funds to stimulate research processes and technologies, while the EU contributes by providing financial support packages. Africa Union (AU) has come up with the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19 outbreak and has also set up an African Union COVID-19 Response Fund to mitigate the social, economic and humanitarian impact of COVID-19 in all African countries. Interregional mechanisms such as g7+, highlighted the concerns of countries dealing with COVID-19 that are already fragile and in conflict situations, making threat is even more alarming.

Given the role of regional, sub-regional and interregional organizations in supporting and collaborating with international institutions and governments, they offer important lessons to ensuring the global coordination needed to recover from the crisis. This include working across borders to share best practices for mitigating the spread, coordinate fiscal measures and boost trade.

The BAPA+40 Outcome document has mentioned the importance of sub-regional, regional and interregional organizations for the promotion of transparent, sustainable and accountable development practices, and for enabling more partnerships, with a view to promoting and scaling up best practices to benefit developing countries.

This webinar, jointly organized by UNOSSC and UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC), brings together actors from regional, sub-regional and interregional organizations to share their experiences and responses on:

Support regional, sub-regional and interregional organization are providing to their member States in responding to COVID-19

Implications of COVID-19 on regional, sub-regional and interregional cooperation and integration

Role of these organizations in promoting South-South cooperation to respond to COVID-19

The aim of this webinar is to contribute to a global and regional exchange of experiences that could increase understanding of the challenges and solutions, improve the effectiveness of cross-disciplinary responses, and leverage cooperation amongst countries, including through South-South and triangular cooperation.

Following the presentations from the panellists, there will be a Q&A session during which it will be possible to ask questions and further discuss lessons learned.

Agenda

Moderator: Ms. Xiaojun Grace Wang, Deputy Director, UNOSSC)

1. Opening Remarks

Mr. Jorge Chediek, Director of UNOSSC & Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on South-South Cooperation New York, United States

2. Panelists

• Mr. Fadi Abdullah Farasin, Assistant Director General, Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), subsidiary organ of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
• Mr. Habib Ur Rehman Mayar, Deputy General Secretary, g7+ Secretariat & Executive Director of g7+ Foundation
• Sara Hamouda, SDGs and Agenda 2063 Expert, African Peer Review Mechanism, African Union
• Representative from the Government of Paraguay
• Representative from ASEAN Secretariat (TBC)

3. Q&A (20 min)

4. Concluding Remarks

• Mr. Stephan Klingebiel, Director of USPC, Republic of Korea