Kenya’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Zachary Muburi-Muita, has been elected the president of United Nations high-level South-South Cooperation for a period of two years.
The South-South Cooperation committee is the governing body charged with the responsibility of overseeing intergovernmental policy making procedures. It meets biennially and its decisions are endorsed by the UN General Assembly. The prestigious committee is a UNEP initiative that is promoted as an essential cross-cutting mechanism designed to enhance the ability to deliver capacity building and technology in developing countries and regions of the South.
In a Press statement from the United Nations headquarters in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon says that Mr Muburi-Muita’s appointment is an indication of the confidence the UN member states have in Kenya.
And speaking to this reporter from his New York office, an elated Mr Muita said he felt greatly honored. “It is a daunting task but I am happy to say that I will give it my best shot as I know what the South-South Corporation means to developing countries like Kenya”, he said.
Muita’s appointment comes hot on the heels of the Historic UN high-level conference on South-South Cooperation which was held in Nairobi from 1st-3rd of December, 2009. As we went to press, his first order of business as president was to chair a follow-up high-level committee on January 4th at the UN headquarters. South-South Cooperation has been successful in decreasing dependence on the aid programs of developed countries and in creating a shift in the international balance of power.
The term South-South Cooperation has historically used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the global South.
Other member states elected to the UN Committee are Canada, Suriname and Philippines. The nominee for the Eastern Europe region is yet to be decided upon.
Ambassador Muita is also serving as the Vice president of the Bureau of the Assemblies of States parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
