Liberian official hails South-South cooperation in advancing right to development

A senior Liberian official has praised China’s contribution to advancing the right to development, highlighting how south-south cooperation – and particularly China’s development experience – offers a viable model for sustained economic transformation grounded in national realities.

Speaking at the 2026 Forum on Global Human Rights Governance in Beijing, Jeddi M. Armah, deputy minister for legal affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Liberia, emphasized the critical role of South-South cooperation in expanding development opportunities for countries like his own.

The two-day event, marking the 40th anniversary of the Declaration on the Right to Development, opened on Thursday with more than 400 participants from over 100 countries and international organizations, including the United Nations.

The deputy minister pointed out that one of the most significant challenges facing the right to development is its limited institutional enforceability. He noted that while the right is frequently evoked in international deliberations and policy discourse, it does not always exert a consistent influence on economic governance arrangements, which has created a growing need for social cooperation.

“For countries such as Liberia, South-South cooperation has expanded the architecture of available development partnerships and introduced additional opportunities for infrastructure development, technical cooperation, trade facilitation and economic transformation. Its emphasis on mutual respect, national ownership, policy autonomy and development according to national circumstances resonates strongly with the foundational principles of the right to development,” said the deputy minister.

He further underscored the significance of China’s role, both as a model for successful development pathways as well as its efforts to build global consensus on the right to development.

“In this regard, the contribution of the People’s Republic of China has been particularly significant. China’s development experience demonstrates that sustained economic transformation is possible when development strategies are grounded in national realities and supported by long-term institutional commitment. Equally important, China’s international engagement has contributed to a broader conversation about development pathways, policy autonomy and the importance of respecting different national approaches to development,” he said.

The United Kingdom’s economy contracted in April, with the gross domestic product (GDP) falling 0.1 percent month on month after growing 0.3 percent in March, according to data released Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The main driver of the negative growth was cited as a 0.2 percent contraction in services.

According to the ONS, one of the biggest contributors to the decline in services was a 9.1 percent fall in sports, amusement and recreation activities — the largest negative contribution from a single industry to services output and real GDP growth.

Some of the sector’s decline was attributed to the war in the Middle East, as the cancellation of various sporting events in the Middle East affected the output of U.K.-based companies, said the ONS.