A/HRC/19/64 Prospects for Greater South-South Cooperation 5. We acknowledge that, building on the series of earlier regional high-level consultations that began in 1991, the Beijing High-Level Meeting on Cooperation for Child Rights in the Asia Pacific Region provided a valuable opportunity for countries of the region to share good practices and lessons learned in support of the realization of child rights. We welcome the presentations by governments on their experiences in addressing each of the three main conference themes: (i) the development of a systems approach to child protection and child welfare in the Asia Pacific region, (ii) the achievement of the MDGs with equity – country experiences in the Asia Pacific region, and (iii) saving and enhancing children‘s lives through enhanced disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Asia Pacific region. We note that these three conference themes represent issues of growing significance in the region, and areas where greater cooperation within a South-South framework would potentially deliver significant benefits for the countries adopting this declaration. 6. We endorse the outcomes of the 2009 High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation in Nairobi, Kenya. We reaffirm that South-South cooperation should be advanced as ―a partnership among equals, based on solidarity‖, and be guided by the principles of respect for national sovereignty and ownership, free of any conditionality. We note that the Nairobi Outcome Document emphasizes that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation, and urges United Nations funds, programmes and specialized agencies to take concrete steps to support South-South cooperation by facilitating this cooperation and strengthening the capabilities of regional organizations. 7. We are convinced that, despite the great diversity represented by the 28 Asia Pacific countries participating in the Beijing High-Level Meeting, the people of the region share much in common, have strong mutual interests in socio-economic and human development, and have much to gain from closer cooperation. The Asia Pacific region is home to people from a vast array of different cultures and civilizations, ethnicities and languages and includes countries, and regions within countries, with wide differences in per capita income and greatly varying populations. We reaffirm that child rights are fundamental to all cultures and societies, and that protection, respect, promotion and fulfillment of child rights are vital for economic growth and human development. Sharing Lessons Learned 8. We recognize that there are a number of examples where South-South cooperation in the Asia Pacific region contributed to important development gains. Cooperation through regional organizations such as the Association for South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) have, for example, helped produce greater economic integration, a more stable security environment and a stronger political voice in global affairs for the countries of South-East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific respectively. We note positively that a number of countries in the Asia Pacific region are already working together to advance children‘s rights, due to their mutual interest in improving the situation of children, and the potential value of exchanges with countries that have recent and relevant experience in addressing similar development challenges. 9. We acknowledge the growing number of complex cross-border issues affecting children, such as trafficking, drug abuse, the spread of infectious disease such as HIV and AIDS, and irregular migration, where effective solutions can only be achieved through broad and concerted action from multiple countries. We note with appreciation the 60