South-South cooperation should gain supporters beyond the particular interests of the states and blocs promoting it, as it offers viable alternatives for addressing the existential crises threatening humanity.
Perhaps climate change illustrates—like no other contemporary phenomenon—the urgency of collective responses, as recognized by the commitments promoted by the United Nations (UN) and other international bodies.
Without the promotion of South-South cooperation and triangular collaboration (between two or more developing countries and an industrialized power or a multilateral organization), it would be impossible to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to various analyses.
The current scenario seems unlikely to lead to the achievement of the SDGs by 2030, considering the decline in humanitarian and development funding, the rise in external debt, wars, the arms race, and geo-economic disputes.
However, there is another story emerging in parallel, reflecting a period of interregnum, "that suspended space where the old does not die and the new cannot be born," as defined by Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, according to UN Secretary-General for Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan.
"The South is the greatest witness to this enormous emergence of the new," said the expert in a dialogue promoted by Colombia on the occasion of the international celebration of South-South Cooperation Day on September 12.
Various regional institutions, development banks, and new cooperation instruments are emerging throughout the Global South. "These," Grynspan emphasized, "are not signs of fatigue with multilateralism. They are proof that the South wants more, not less multilateralism; more, not less cooperation."
The Global Report on South-South and Triangular Cooperation 2025 substantiated the relevance of such links in addressing complex and interconnected challenges such as climate change, digital inequalities, and food insecurity.
The relationships inherent in South-South cooperation went beyond the regional sphere to become "a pillar of multilateralism, with initiatives that cross horizons and continents," according to the text, published by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC).
However, UNOSSC warned of the urgent need to invest in regional financial integration, digital infrastructure, climate action, renewable energy, and crisis response mechanisms in order to promote resilience, innovation, and economic self-sufficiency.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), South-South transactions face persistent obstacles associated with non-tariff barriers, logistics infrastructure deficits, and a lack of accessible financial instruments.
In general, companies in the historic "First World" have access to export credits with substantially lower interest rates and longer terms. In contrast, in the South, these instruments are scarcer, more expensive, and have prohibitive collateral requirements, according to the WTO.
Another factor working against them is similar production structures, dominated by so-called commodities. Statistical data show that, for many countries in Africa, Latin America, and Oceania, more than 60% of their total exports (including South-South exports) are concentrated in just three primary categories, including minerals, oil, coffee, copper, and soybeans.
High dependence on commodities limits complementary trade between these nations and increases their vulnerability to the volatility of international commodity prices, the source argued.
Assessments by the United Nations Development Program warn that logistics and transportation costs in less developed countries can absorb between 15% and 25% of the total value of exports, compared to 6-8% in industrialized economies.
Added to this are monetary disadvantages, as many transactions are still invoiced in dollars, exposing importers and exporters to exchange rate volatility and conversion costs. Furthermore, the lack of currency swap mechanisms between central banks in the South exacerbates the problem.
Despite the setbacks, increasing South-South and triangular cooperation is not only feasible but essential because, at the end of the day, we are all passengers on the ship Earth, whose sinking we should avoid.
