South–South co-operation (SSC) refers to formal and informal co-operation between developing countries as well as the increas- ing economic ties (of trade, investment, aid, etc.) that are both cause and consequence of such co-operation. (This essay uses the terms ‘South’, ‘global South’, ‘developing countries’, and ‘Third World’ interchangeably.) The term was first used officially only in 2004 when the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) decided to change the name of its special unit on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC, mooted in 1974 and created in 1978) to the Special Unit for South–South Cooperation, which would later became the United Nations Office for South– South Cooperation. However, the ideas and practices of SSC have a much longer history.
