Context:
India organised the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) Tourism Ministers’ virtual meet.
Relevance:
GS-II: International Relations (Important International Groupings, Foreign policies affecting India’s Interests)
Dimensions of the Article:
- About IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa)
- About the IBSA Tourism Ministers Meet
- Extras: IBSA Fund
About IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa)
- The IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) is a trilateral, developmental initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa to promote South-South cooperation and exchange.
- The grouping was formalized and named the IBSA Dialogue Forum when the Foreign Ministers of the three countries met in Brasilia (Brazil) on 6th June 2003 and issued the Brasilia Declaration.
- The idea of South-South Cooperation (SSC) is not new. Its genesis can be traced back to the decades of efforts by countries and groupings working together to ensure South-South solidarity such as Bandung conference 1955, Non-Aligned Movement 1961, G77 grouping, UNCTAD, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action 1978, and the 2009 Nairobi declaration.
- India is the current IBSA Chair as of August 2021 and so far 5 IBSA Leadership Summits have been held.
About the IBSA Tourism Ministers Meet
- The IBSA Tourism Ministers Meeting recognized the importance of strengthening cooperation in tourism to overcome the impact of Covid 19 pandemic on the tourism sector
- The Ministers agreed to implement various tourism activities to be actioned by respective member countries.
- The significant aspect of the meeting was the adoption of the IBSA Tourism Ministers Joint Statement, an outcome document on cooperation and promotion for speedy recovery of travel and tourism.
Extras: IBSA Fund
- Development projects are executed with IBSA funding in fellow developing countries through the IBSA Fund (India, Brazil and South Africa Facility for Poverty and Hunger Alleviation).
- Established in 2004, IBSA Fund is managed by the United Nations (UN) Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). Each IBSA member country is required to contribute $1 million per annum to the fund.
- Over the years, the fund has contributed $39 million and partnered in 19 countries from global South to implement 26 projects.
- Projects have been funded in countries such as Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Burundi, Cambodia, Haiti, Palestine, Vietnam and others.
- The fund has also been recognised for its good work in the field and has received UN South-South Partnership award 2006, UN MDG (Millenium Development Goals) award 2010, and the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Champions award in 2012.
-Source: The Hindu
