BAKU /Trend/ – Today, the founding conference of the Global South NGO Platform will be held in Baku, where influential NGO leaders and civil society representatives from 116 countries, home to about 80 percent of the world’s population, will gather.
As Trend reports , this large-scale event is considered a landmark in the life of civil society in the Global South, which covers Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania – two-thirds of the world’s countries.
The initiative to create the platform was put forward by the National Forum of NGOs of Azerbaijan in November 2024 within the framework of COP29. The initiative quickly caused an international resonance. As a result, the COP29 NGO Coalition raised the issue of institutionalizing this platform before the National Forum of NGOs of Azerbaijan. For the first time, an initiative of Azerbaijani NGOs received such global support on a global scale.
During Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement, its intensive work to create a new and just world order, the important initiatives it put forward and the achievement of the “Baku Breakthrough” during COP29 have generated great sympathy for the Azerbaijani state in the Global South. This event is seen as a new beginning in the life of Azerbaijan’s civil society.
The establishment of the Global South NGO Platform in Baku is another manifestation of Azerbaijan’s successful role as a mediator and bridge between the Global North and the Global South.
The Global South NGO Platform aims to support the countries in this strategic geography in addressing the challenges they face and in making their voices heard internationally, so that they can speak with one voice in international organisations, including the UN, and coordinate globally. It is a platform for joint efforts to combat the injustices their countries face: poverty, the effects of climate change, colonial past, digital inequality, trade inequality and other issues. It also promotes South-South cooperation.
The platform’s inaugural conference will be held today at the Baku Congress Center. The two-day international conference “Solidarity Action: Strengthening Global South NGOs for a New and Just World” will include speeches by leading global NGOs, global discussions and the importance of the historic “Bandung Principles” adopted in Indonesia 70 years ago. These principles reject interference in the internal affairs of states, promote the creation of a peaceful, just world order, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, ensuring the equality of peoples and call for mobilization to strengthen mutual interests and cooperation and economic prosperity.
https://www.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/4036467.html