As a“milestone”and“new chapter”in the course of ongoing cooperation between the Center for New Structural Economics at Peking University (CNSE) and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Feb. 23, 2016 in Longrun Garden, Peking University.

A series of programs and events will be launched under this cooperation framework between the two institutes, including but not limited to i) initiating the establishment of a global research consortium on economic structural transformation; ii)cooperating in conducting country case studies on economic and technological transformation; iii) disseminating respective research results through international forums co-organized by the two parties or in collaboration with other international institutions, or through publications; iv) jointly working on launching new models for economic transformation and pilot projects in developing countries, and delivering concrete outcomes; v) collaborating in their respective fundraising efforts related to South-South cooperation and economic transformation from identified funding sources.

The signing ceremony was held during a meeting between Justin Yifu Lin,director of CNSE and Jorge Chediek,director of UNOSSC. Other participants include Jiajun Xu, deputy executive director of CNSE,Xiaojun Grace Wang,lead advisor on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the Bureau for Policy and Program Support at UNDP, Agi Veres,country director of UNDP China, and Teresa Liu, chief of the Division of Development Solutions and Technology Exchange at UNOSSC.

Founded in 1974, UNOSSC is mandated by the General Assembly to promote, support, and mainstream South-South cooperation across the UN system and throughout the international development community by leveraging its global reach as well as its policy and institutional capacities.