On the invitation of ‘China Institute of International Studies (CIIS)’, DG-IPS Khalid Rahman attended a two-day conference titled ‘Carry Forward the Bandung Spirit to Create a New Era of Asia-Africa Cooperation’ held in Beijing, China, on November 25-26, 2015.
Rahman, on the occasion, delivered a presentation on the topic of ‘SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and South-South Cooperation’ in which he stressed that the accord for cooperation between the developing southern countries was not a matter of choice, but of exigency.
The major areas to focus in this regard, according to him, were the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and disease, improvement in economic decision making and mechanisms, human and infrastructural development, building and strengthening of institutions and harnessing the regional and international frameworks to facilitate the coaction.
He urged that it was mandatory for South-South cooperation to mutually address the challenges pertaining to security and development in the region in order to attain sustainable peace and progress.
He stressed the need to take all faith-based groups in the region on board and building their capacity for the purpose as this will only strengthen the development process on ground.
