CITY OF BELGRADE /
EUROPEAN CENTER FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT (ECPD)
UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE ESTABSLISHED BY THE UNITED NATIONS /
JAPAN FOUNDATION

Annex 1

ECPD International Round Table

National and Inter-Ethnic Reconciliation, Religious Tolerance and Human Security in the Balkans

THE GLOBAL SOUTH

Belgrade, City Hall, 11-12 October, 2013
(17,00-20,00 h)

A BACKGROUND NOTE

In the early period of its activity the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) of the University for Peace established by the United Nations, was actively engaged in the development-related work with special emphasis on North-South and South-South cooperation, development, financing and banking.

To recall and mark this important period of its activity, ECPD, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary and the Ninth ECPD International Conference on Reconciliation, Tolerance and Human Security in the Balkans, organizes a Roundtable on the Global South. The Roundtable will be held in Belgrade, on 12 October 2013 in the afternoon, following the formal closure of the Ninth ECPD International Conference.

The Roundtable will be devoted to a highly topical issue at the current juncture in the evolution of the international relations: "Whither the Global South in the 21st Century?"

Often referred as the Third World, the Global South is frequently denied and the shared objectives and views of the developing countries belittled by its detractors and by pessimists. They tend to highlight differences and conflicts that abound within the South and between developing countries. Yet, both the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 and China have weathered difficult times and overcome problems. More than 50 years since their establishment, they continue to function in the global arena, united in the quest of some basic values and principles, and common objectives.

The most recent UNDP Human Development Report for 2013 depicted the progress and the potential of the South, and conveyed an optimistic message that the future belongs to the South. It recommended that a new South Commission be established to consider challenges and opportunities in front of the countries of the South in the period to come. Much like the first South Commission chaired by the late President of Tanzania Julius K. Nyerere, if and when created, the new commission will have to consider the meaning of the South today, what are its commonalities and bonds and what unites developing countries into a group and a global coalition, in spite of their many differences.

The topic "Whither the Global South in the 21st Century" should stimulate the participants to range over a whole set of related issues, including:

Is there really a Global South today? What binds and/or divides the developing countries and do they have a shared global agenda? Why is the Global South important and needed in the emerging multi-polar world? What are the prospects and implications of South-South cooperation, and of growing economic strength of developing countries? What is the role of BRICS, African Union and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the collective action of developing countries in the world policy arena? Can the rising Global South, with BRICS as its major component and driving force, begin to change world structure and power relations between the North and the South, objectives that the developing countries had set as their collective agenda as the time of Nonaligned Movement and G-77 founding more than half of a century ago, and what is the role of these two global groupings of the South? And the last but not the least important: how and in what way the emerging of Global South impacts the Balkan's development?

The above issues represent the main objective of the Roundtable. It is also hoped that the participants will make recommendations for the possible future ECPD activities related to emerging of the Global South and its impacts and relevance for the development in the Balkan region.

The International Round Table will be chaired by Dr Idris

ECPD plans to prepare and publish, on the basis of interventions and written submissions by the participants, a volume of the proceedings.

Belgrade, September 2013

ECPD30th Anniversery 1983 - 2013