OCE and the challenge of true South-South cooperation

On this topic and other challenges, Prensa Latina spoke with Sheikh Mansour bin Muslim, Secretary General of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, who stated that when the organization was founded on January 29, 2020 in Djibouti, it was a moment of celebration and pride not only for those who fought. for its creation, but also for the member states.

Being able to craft a new multilateral instrument at the time was considered the greatest achievement, Muslim explained, but after a few weeks they realized that the known world had disappeared with the arrival of Covid-19.

“And that, of course, was a great challenge for the organization as a group, not only because countries had to face that health crisis, but also legitimately their priorities became other. “Priorities of saving lives, more than the ratification of an instrument or a charter.”

But, he added, states have demonstrated their commitment to that organization’s vision by ensuring that, in the midst of a pandemic, that charter comes into force in less than a year and four months.

The biggest challenge was assembling the group in the midst of an Omicron variant wave of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19. He acknowledged that the Organization was born and formed at a time of great uncertainty for the Member States and the General Secretariat, but also for the world.

Close to the present, and with the establishment of the headquarters of the European Cooperation Organization in Addis Ababa last month, he sees that the capital of Africa, which has become the capital of the integration of the countries of the South with our presence, poses new challenges.

I think that the biggest challenge we will face is no longer the participation of Member States, because in fact the vision and endorsement of Member States has been confirmed with the arrival of Covid-19. The charter spoke not only of a comprehensive and balanced education, but also of enhancing our research capacity across disciplines.”

And he stressed that Covid-19 has taught the urgency of this mandate. Our country was not asking for any charitable organization, we wanted to buy vaccines, but monopolize some production, so we need to build our capabilities, Covid-19 showed that.

The technology divide also widened in 2019, but it underscored what was already in the compact to develop our own technology that adapted to our context and that stimulated the creativity of our youth and our economy.

Now that we have entered the executive phase of the organization, we understand the basics of South-South cooperation, he said.

True regional South-South cooperation

Looking to the future, for the Secretary-General of the Organization for European Cooperation, Sheikh Mansour bin Muslim, “The challenge is that the mandates of the member states and countries, I mean people who have dreams, the biggest challenge is renewal with dreams and ideals.”

He considered that the current international discourses are no longer dreams because we have moved from building societies of shared prosperity to a discourse that talks about reducing poverty and the effects of climate change.

On this last subject, in asking why we are not progressing in this fight and that it is also a challenge for OCE, we must first teach that change is possible. We have reached a moment where people exhaust themselves before the fighting starts because we do not believe that change is possible.

He reflected that fear in itself is not productive, though legitimate in climate catastrophe, that it is at best a pure reflex, a reaction to things to prevent the worst, but at worst it is utterly paralyzing.

The second challenge is the lack of a vision of what will come after the ecological transition, because there can be no deconstruction without reconstruction plans. Third, and most seriously, we are so immersed in the individualism of our development models that we forget the meaning of teamwork.

“Teamwork Not many people do the same thing at the same time, and teamwork is a resolute battle on multiple fronts to achieve a common goal and I think the idea of ​​rebuilding a collective sense of community is an important part.”

He warned that without dreams there is no mobilization or transformation. We are an organization that believes that there is no future without collective cooperation and no future without South-South cooperation, and when I say South-South cooperation, it means recognition of true regional integration.

I think one of the biggest challenges as an organization is that we talk about the South without being aware of the South, and we still don’t feel like we belong to the South. Many in Latin America think they have nothing to do with Africa, and in Africa they think they have nothing to do with Latin America.

He concluded that when we share, if we are very diverse, unity is only built through diversity because one does not unite what is already oneself, but unites what is different.

M / tiger