Beyond the slogan of South-South co-operation

Greater South-South co-operation requires a major political initiative rather than technocratic blueprints. Its ultimate success depends on a fundamental internal restructuring of Third-World societies, including their intellectual emancipation, education of their masses and adoption of alternative development strategies to meet the basic needs of their people. Such co-operation may first emerge between a few Southern nations, rather than on a global basis, and it may follow a period of intensive South-South dialogue through a Third-World Secretariat. The real potential for co-operation is large, both in expanding South-South trade and in organizing meaningful countervailing power to negotiate a new international economic order.