As an NGO which pioneered the practice of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) in Brazil, promoting such cooperation with the national liberation movements of South Africa and Namibia in the 1980´s, comafrica.org while continuing to follow research lines of the former IURI -Institutos Unificados de Relações Internacionais ¹, purports to contribute to genuine international cooperation.²

In 1978, representatives from developing countries adopted The Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing TCDC ³within the perspective of an international economic order, based on the principles of national and collective self-reliance, and of working towards a new pattern of international relations⁴. A New International Economic Order, as demanded in the 1970´s, through which fair prices for raw materials, industrialization with technology transfer were to be sought was not attained. Nevertheless, South-South Cooperation became part of the agenda of the UN System and gained space in the foreign policy of the governments of developing countries⁵.

South-South Cooperation constitutes an important instrument for the practice of foreign policy “from below”, notwithstanding the fact that is widely used by transnational companies to enhance their transnational division of labour, as e.g. in the automotive industry, where exchanges between the car factories in Brazil and in Africa have obviously for decades sought benefits from South-South economic relations and from comparative advantages resulting from tariff negotiations and reduction of transports costs amongst others.

Under the umbrella of Global South, we can subsume the majority of the member countries of the UN that used to be classified as developing countries, which sometimes have quite different social and economic indicators. However it is important to note that most of these countries were brought under European colonial and imperial influence, in a process which started in the XVIth century and to which USA and Japanese imperial expansion were added as from the XIXth Century. They are grouped in the Group of 77⁶ while many of them are also part of the Non-Aligned Movement⁷. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries played a key role in the struggle for the establishment of a New International Economic Order.

As the largest coalition in the United Nations, the Group of 77 provides means for the developing countries to articulate and promote their collective economic interests, enhancing their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues in the United Nations system, promoting economic and technical cooperation among developing countries (ECDC and the above referred TCDC).
The Movement of Non-Aligned Countries (NAM) was created and founded in the heydays of the Cold War, while the colonial system was collapsing in the wake of the independence struggles of the peoples of Africa and Asia.

The principles of the NAM derive from the Ten Principles adopted in the Declaration on the Promotion of World Peace and Co-operation as part of the Final Communiqué of the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. The Conference became known in History as the Conference of Bandung against colonialism and for self-determination.⁸

THE TEN PRINCIPLES OF BANDUNG:

• 1. Respect of fundamental human rights and of the objectives and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
• 2. Respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
• 3. Recognition of the equality among all races and of the equality among all nations, both large and small.
• 4. Non-intervention or non-interference into the internal affairs of another country.
• 5. Respect of the right of every nation to defend itself, either individually or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
• 6. a. Non-use of collective defence pacts to benefit the specific interests of any of the great powers.
  6. b.Non-use of pressures by any country against other countries.
• 7. Refraining from carrying out or threatening to carry out aggression, or from using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.
• 8. Peaceful solution of all international conflicts in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
• 9. Promotion of mutual interests and of cooperation.
• 10. Respect of justice and of international obligations.

During the early days of the Movement, its actions were a key factor in the decolonisation process, which later led to the attainment of freedom and independence by many countries and peoples and to the establishment of tens of new sovereign States.
The primary objectives of the non-aligned countries focused on :

• • the support of self-determination, national independence, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States;
• • opposition to apartheid;
• • non-adherence to multilateral military pacts and the independence of non-aligned countries from great power or block influences and rivalries;
• • the struggle against imperialism in all its forms and manifestations;
• • the struggle against colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, foreign occupation and domination;
• • disarmament;
• • non-interference into the internal affairs of States and peaceful coexistence among all nations;
• • rejection of the use or threat of use of force in international relations;
• • the strengthening of the United Nations;
• • the democratisation of international relations;
• • socio-economic development and the restructuring of the international economic system; and
• • international cooperation on an equal footing.

A foreign policy “from below” must just as the foreign policy “from above” have resource to proven tools and think tanks that are able to focus on challenges that the countries of the Global South face in the multilateral fora and in their national development.
Hence, civil society organisations should, at national level, be able to articulate their public policy demands with foreign policy formulations that bring home the debate on international issues.

International organisations have also tried to benefit from Civic Diplomacy most especially under the umbrella of cultural internationalism. From the earlier Bandung Conference in 1955, active cultural exchange was on the agenda of the countries which came to establish the NAM, but this was not followed with great intensity, thereby not building active bridges of understanding between Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America which would have strengthened other forms of cooperation. This has been changing to some extent in the XXIst Century - at Non-Aligned Movement [NAM] and G-77 meetings, at least, a critical view of certain aspects of the modern global system are often expressed. Consequently, the NAM conferences have tried to bring together converging political and cultural views that allow for greater cooperation among developing nations. Its current main agenda is the eradication of poverty and the move towards sustainable development in its member countries, thereby giving the organisation relevance after the end of the Cold War, based on strong South-South cooperation.

The IBSA Dialogue⁹ can become a fertile ground for Civic Diplomacy in the framework of South-South Cooperation, provided people-to-people contacts develop from below parallel to the governmental Dialogue from above. At the IBSA’s Seminar on Economic Development and Social Equity in August 2005 in Rio, only the South African Delegation had included some representative NGOS, while the few Brazilian NGO representatives present came almost incidentally because of their organizations having known about it, and the expected delegations from India did not arrive¹⁰.

The challenge of South-South cooperation is a multiple one, and Comafrica.org shall thus prioritise the dealing with the following sub areas

• • Finance, monetary issues.
• • Science, technology, the “knowledge society”.
• • Environment.
• • “Information society”, the “digital divide” and ICT.
• • Intellectual property and development issues, including public health.
• • Educational policies .
• • TNCs and development
• • Comparative analysis of national development strategies and civil society role.

	Hence, the dissemination of information on abounding examples of the development of Southern research capacity to find solutions to the challenges faced by the South, and of innovative solutions for economic cooperation shall be privileged in this site, more especially in what concerns African countries relations with Latin America as well as with India, in view of the establishment of the IBSA Dialogue.
The Indian Minister of State for for External Affairs, Shri Anand Sharma, Brazilian Minister of External Relations, Celso Amorim and Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at Itamaraty Palace, Rio de Janeiro , March 30, 2006.
	China, which has been a major player in South-South co-operation since Bandung is increasingly becoming a major player in Africa’s international trade and development, therefore is also contemplated in this site11
Hundreds of Chinese agriculturalists work today in Africa.

Comafrica.org is open to develop projects in partnership relating to the Study of International Relations in the framework of South-South Cooperation that are connected with its purpose of reconstructing international cooperation by retrieving the heritage of solidarity, providing for the dissemination of information and for the revitalization of public spaces, creating a space for cooperation with Africa in Rio de Janeiro.