Remarks by Yiping Zhou –Director of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation at the forum on 'Investment Promotion and Technology Transfer through South-South Cooperation' 2007-09-09   First let me thank The China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE) for the continued cooperation with my Special Unit for South-South Cooperation. This is not the first activity that we have arranged together. The idea is to pool knowledge and experiences from different parts of the world to better serve people from the South. I am also grateful for the ever broadening collaboration with UNIDO in a true spirit of a harmonized United Nation as we offer supporting services to the developing countries. Ladies and Gentlemen, the subject of the Forum touches on a number of important issues that are critical to economic growth in the developing countries. Today, there is agreement that Asia is the fastest growing region in the world.  Economists cite unpredented levels of economic growth in China, India and the ASEAN Region. This growth is being translated into better livelihoods for people in this populous region. This is the region that is on course to meet the Millennium Development Goals with unprecedented numbers of people out of poverty. Trade in the Region is growing at a faster rate than the world trend. Multilateral institutions like the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation are created to have a bird’s eye view of processes that can help a number of countries to develop. We have to encourage learning from each other. We also believe that learning constitutes of listening and exchanges among the different stakeholders in a country such as scientists, academics, government policy makers and the business community.  It is in this regard that we encouraged participation from all these sectors. It is my view that investment and technology have played an important role in the transformation of the economies in the Region. Today, the core of business, whether at community level or in large entrepreneur settings is technology. Technology can be of scientific interest helping to develop new products, it can lead to efficient production and business practices towards commercial success, it can also help to achieve more sustainable development by reducing environmental damage, but technology can also produce goods of social and economic value. If people are better served in public offices due to improved technology that helps their social well being. In all this the critical issue is transferring the knowledge into application. That needs people, well educated scientists and engineers. We therefore cannot rigorously talk about technology without reference to the policy environment. In successful economies, the national plans are clear on expanding technology use. The higher education institutions produce people that advance the technology, adapt the available technology to meet the planned vision. Other institutions such as Science and Technology Parks, incubation centres and hi-tech economic zones provide the environment for technological advancement to thrive. Networks are created among and with external technology institutions. The people and systems are well rehearsed in the language global language, thus reducing the technological divide. In the past decades we had examples such as the Silicon Valley in the USA, and a number of other similar technology parks. Now we have similar conglomerations of hi-tech institutions and people. Other parts of the world are taking note and are interested in visiting to learn. In conclusion, we at the special Unit think there should be an efficient way of  making this technology available to other developing countries. During the course of this Forum my staff will make a presentation on the  South Global Assets and Technological Exchanges Systems (GATES).  To conclude, to quote from a recent UNDP paper, “ The formidable challenge facing developing countries in the 21 st century is not only one of accelerating progress in achieving the Millennium development Goals in areas of basic needs, butt also in investing in science and technology education and building technical and managerial skills. Simultaneous public investments will be needed in all these areas if they wish to move beyond low-value-added production and trade” Kamal Malhotra (UNDP Poverty Reduction Cluster). I wish you all successful deliberations during the forum and hope that other countries can offer opportunities to learn from their own experiences.

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