South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the Digital Era: Challenges and Opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean
By Javier Surasky-
The digital
revolution has radically transformed the way nations interact: today, we are
facing new methods of warfare, trade, and cooperation among states, as well as
the emergence of digital diplomacy. In the realm of sustainable development, we
encounter a "digital challenge," a term that refers to the numerous
obstacles faced by digitally lagging countries, evident in the formation and
consolidation of a digital divide encompassing infrastructure, technical, and
human capabilities. As early as 2015, shortly after countries adopted the 2030
Agenda, then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon remarked, "As we celebrate
remarkable ICT achievements for development, we must keep focus on bridging the
digital divide, including the gender digital divide."
Nearly ten
years later, the digital challenge has intensified due to the rapid pace of
digital technology advances, which only a limited number of states and elites
can keep up with, leaving a significant portion of countries and the global
population behind. This issue is compounded by a deeper understanding of the
impacts of digitalization across various domains.
Consequently,
what we term the “digital challenge” is reflected in the development sphere
through two main, interconnected areas that can be subdivided into specific
chapters:
1. Bridging
the digital divide, which includes the development of digital infrastructures
(both physical and legal), the creation of human capacities (digital literacy),
technical capacities (digital computing power, hardware, and software), and
data sovereignty.
2. Managing
the trade-offs between digital development and related fields (employment,
environment, trade, gender, privacy, and human rights, among others).
To illustrate the first area, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, 2023:2), 93% of high-income country inhabitants use the Internet, compared to only 27% in low-income countries. Similarly, the digital infrastructure index in the IMF’s AI Preparedness Index (2024) is three times higher in advanced economies than in low-income countries: 0.18 versus 0.06. Examples of the second area include UNCTAD’s (2024) work on the cross-impact between digital economic development and the environment, and the ILO (2024) report on AI's impact on the employment market.
The South-South Cooperation Response to the Digital Challenge
The
traditional framework of South-South Cooperation (SSC) is evolving to address
the digital challenge. A consensus seems to be emerging from debates and
practices around the notion that SSC should go beyond the technical assistance
it has been providing and take concrete steps in promoting digital sovereignty
and innovation as tools for development.
Globally, a
joint report on this topic was published in 2018 by the United Nations Office
for South-South Cooperation and the Finance Center for South-South Cooperation.
It stated that SSC "may be more relevant for the digital economy than it
has ever been before. Collaboration can readily reduce the needed material and
human resource investments required to achieve exponential changes. Due to
this, South-South cooperation may well prove to be a critical factor in
developing appropriate and measured responses to the Fourth Industrial
Revolution" (20).
Subsequent
experiences include China’s Digital Silk Road Initiative with African countries
as main counterparts, which promotes digital infrastructure development,
India’s promotion of digital public goods and its collaboration to extend its
digital identity and payment management systems to other Global South
countries, and the adoption of the African Union’s 2020-2030 Digital
Transformation Strategy.
In Latin
America and the Caribbean, a region recognized for its leadership in promoting
and conceptualizing SSC, strengths and opportunities for Triangular Cooperation
in digital and innovation fields have been identified (Cartón, 2023), and
various actors have initiated steps toward digital development cooperation.
A pioneering innovation took place in 2003 when the Regional Ministerial Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, held in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society in Bávaro, Dominican Republic, launched a political dialogue with the support of ECLAC. This led to the adoption of the first Action Plan on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2007) two years later, a process that continues today with the Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean 2024. This agenda sets 31 objectives grouped under four pillars, with a cross-cutting gender perspective, and establishes a monitoring framework.
Source: https://elac.cepal.org/agenda-gobernanza.html
Consequently,
we can now observe multiple examples of efforts involving regional actors to
promote cooperative digital preparedness and capacity building. These include:
- Regional programs with external funding support: The Caribbean Digital Transformation Program, supported by the World Bank, launched in 2020, has fostered digital public services and cross-border collaboration among Caribbean nations.
- Academic cooperation for digital transformation: Red CLARA, the Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks, has established a sophisticated regional academic network connecting research institutions across 13 countries. It presents itself as “a key facilitator for connectivity among National Research and Education Networks and an enabler of digital transformation in education, science, technology, and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
- Integration and digital technologies: The Pacific Alliance Digital Agenda, a joint digital market strategy developed by Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile, includes shared standards for digital signatures, e-commerce, and data protection.
In the
traditional realm of state-to-state cooperation, there are numerous instances
and tools shared among regional countries, reflecting the progress of SSC and
Triangular Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean in the development,
implementation, and exchange of technological solutions. Examples include:
1. Digital
government: Brazil’s Electronic Invoice System (NF-e), a pioneering electronic
billing system, has become a regional adoption model with implementation in
Argentina (2019), Uruguay (2020), and Paraguay (pilot program in 2021) through
SSC channels.
2. Financial
technology solutions: Peru’s Immediate Payment Platform (PPI), a real-time
payments system shared with Colombia and Ecuador, allows instant payment
processing, cross-border transactions, mobile phone payments, and incorporates
fraud detection algorithms.
3. Healthcare
technology solutions: Chile’s Digital Hospital telemedicine platform has been
adapted by Peru (2022), Bolivia (2023), and Paraguay (pilot phase). It includes
teleconsultation modules, electronic medical records, diagnostic image sharing,
and prescription management.
4. Cybersecurity
solutions: Argentina’s CERT Infrastructure. A CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team)
comprises experts who effectively prevent, identify, and respond to IT security
incidents. CERT.ar’s expertise was shared with Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia,
and includes threat detection, incident response protocols, training materials,
and collaboration frameworks.
However, for SSC and Triangular Cooperation in digital fields to advance and fully realize their potential, further steps in consolidation and institutionalization are needed.
Recommendations for Strengthening SSC and Triangular Cooperation in Digital Fields
Platforms
like ECLAC, or more specifically the PIFCSS, offer the necessary dialogue
opportunities to consolidate digital development cooperation advancements among
Southern partners and with third-party states. The following are suggested
priorities for SSC and regional Triangular Cooperation:
Establish regional digital innovation centers to serve as catalysts for digital innovation, knowledge exchange, and capacity building, reducing dependency on Global North technologies. These centers, whether regional or subregional, should function as physical and virtual collaborative spaces. Their primary objectives could include:
- Establishing shared governance frameworks for digital technologies, including AI and data, ensuring interoperability, protection, and orderly cross-border flow to reinforce regional data sovereignty.
- Creating infrastructure development mechanisms and financing tools in collaboration with regional development banks and public-private partnerships, as shared infrastructure development reduces costs, enhances regional connectivity, and strengthens digital sovereignty but requires coordinated planning and funding efforts.
- Defining shared innovation priorities and working with regional digital public goods.
Create collaboration frameworks for digital skills development, to address the digital skills gap through coordinated actions, fostering a permanent shared digital training, employment, and certification market with regionally validated competencies for graduates.
Implement joint cybersecurity measures. Given the cross-border nature of cyber threats, collective defense mechanisms have proven more effective and efficient than national ones. Establishing regional CERT teams based on common cybersecurity standards and joint incident response protocols is an urgent necessity.
Promote regional harmonization of digital standards to facilitate digital trade, reduce barriers to the movement of goods, people, and financial resources, and drive regional digital market integration. Issues to consider include regulations on digital signatures, data protection, digital identity, and e-commerce, complemented by compliance monitoring mechanisms. These could be supported by adapting the World Bank’s digital development indicators, the ITU’s ICT development index, the IMF’s digital preparedness index, and, as a primary reference, the commitments made in the Global Digital Compact.
It is clear that the digital challenge presents both obstacles and opportunities for SSC and Triangular Cooperation, which are readily identifiable in Latin America and the Caribbean. Success will depend on coordinated efforts to build digital capacity while preserving autonomy and promoting inclusive development based on regional solidarity. This involves reexamining cooperation among the region’s countries to realign their priorities toward a future that is less unequal and more equitable for future generations.
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