缅北禁地

South-South Integration and the SDGs: Enhancing Structural Transformation
in Key Partner Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative

Reference
PDF-SDG-2018-08
Implementing Entity/ies
UNCTAD
Collaborating Partners
UNIDO, UNESCAP, UNECA, UNDP, CIKD, DRCSC
Duration
Nov. 2018 - Apr. 2022
Location
Ethiopia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka
Approved Budget
$ 948,307
Description
Within the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the economic interactions it entails, the project aims to build capacity in partner countries in the key policy areas of investment, trade, finance/debt, and technology, by indirectly learning from China’s development experience and by directly drawing from China’s existing institutional capabilities.The key beneficiary pilot countries are: Ethiopia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. UNCTAD is the implementing agency responsible for the project in collaboration with other partners.

Synopsis

The project aimed to build capacity in partner countries in the key policy areas for structural transformation: investment, trade, finance/debt, and technology. To do so, the project intended to share experience from China with first-hand experience in the transformation process and an ambitious foreign economic policy based on cross-regional infrastructure connectivity and productive investment known as the Belt & Road initiative (BRI) with other countries in the Global South.

A new dimension was added to the project, which called for an “improved understanding of selected BRI partner countries on the economic shock from Covid-19 and appropriate policy options in responding to the shock.” The added dimension involved analytical work on economic and financial impact of COVID-19 in pilot countries and their responses. In addition, it enabled the sharing of successful policy experiences of other developing countries with the project’s beneficiaries and the assessment and formulation of policy options addressing their rising debt burdens during the pandemic. Through this new stream of work, the project reached out and supported other countries such as South Africa, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Overall, the project increased target countries’ knowledge and understanding of China’s development experience and policy options as well as enhanced their ability to design their policy strategies and institutional mechanisms to align the BRI initiative undertakings with the 2030 Agenda.

The project’s main deliverables include:

Resources