Remarks for Habib Mayar, Deputy General Secretary of g7+
PEACEBUILDING COMMISSION
Ambassadorial-level meeting on South-South and Triangular Cooperation for building and sustaining peace
29 July 2025, 10AM – 1PM, Conference Room 329- July 2025
H.E. Kenyeh Barlay, Minister of Planning and Economic Development of Sierra Leone and Chair of the g7+
H.E. Ms. Antje Leendertse, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations and Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission Excellencies, colleagues,
Warm greetings from the g7+ Headquarters in Dili, Timor-Leste.
At the outset, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the Chair and Secretariat of the Peacebuilding Commission for convening this timely and important meeting. We are especially grateful for the focus placed on the role of fragile-to-fragile cooperation in the context of peacebuilding and sustaining peace, and for the invitation extended to the g7+ to contribute to this discussion.
The g7+ —is itself a product of South-South and Triangular Cooperation. Over the last 15 years since our establishment, we have shown countries emerging from conflict can not only draw lessons from each other but also offer solidarity and cooperation. Our model of “fragile-to-fragile” (F2F) cooperation is rooted in mutual trust and lived experience, enabling peer learning in areas such as reconciliation, institution-building, and peaceful transitions.
Against this background I have 3 points to share:
First: We believe that peacebuilding cannot be imported. It must be nationally led, context-specific, and reinforced by solidarity among peers who understand the complexity of fragility from within.
Through F2F engagement, countries such as Timor-Leste, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and etc. have exchanged first-hand lessons and extended technical, financial and moral support to one another in post-conflict recovery. We have expanded such exchange to other non-g7+ countries such as Cambodia and Rwanda. We are keen to engage collectively with Colombia. The lived lessons can be powerful tool for nurturing peacebuilding menu. In addition, These exchanges of lessons have contributed to shaping a powerful counter-narrative—one that challenges the notion that cooperation is driven solely by vested interests. Instead, they have reinforced a spirit of solidarity and offered valuable insights that can inform much-needed reforms in the international system. This approach—if supported by partners from the Global North—can inspire long-term transformation, strengthen national institutions, and build trust and legitimacy in ways that traditional top-down interventions often cannot. We therefore encourage the Peacebuilding Commission to incorporate the perspectives of countries affected by conflict and fragility in its deliberations on peacebuilding. The g7+ stands ready to regularly contribute lessons and insights drawn from our collective experience.
Second: To build on this success and scale our efforts, the g7+ has developed a multi-year program titled Harnessing Collective Wisdom: A Framework for Fragile-to-Fragile Cooperation. Launched in our Ministerial meeting in April, this framework aims to institutionalize peer learning among our member countries and deepen the practice of South-South Cooperation in peacebuilding and state-building.
This initiative is a response to the declining financial support for countries in transition. In advocating for effective and efficient development cooperation, we continue to emphasize that such efforts can only succeed when grounded in national ownership and led by the vision for lasting peace and stability
Third: At g7+ Ministerial meeting, the g7+ countries appointed H.E. José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor-Leste, as the g7+ Special Envoy for Mediation. This reflects our belief in a model of peace support that is rooted in solidarity—something too rare in today’s global politics—and which we believe can offer new avenues for mediation, even in geopolitically sensitive contexts.
To fully realize the potential of this model, we call on the United Nations, its esteemed leadership, and the members of this platform—as well as those of the Security Council—to support our efforts in advancing mediation and reconciliation, as emphasized in the Dili Resolution.
Excellencies,
The g7+ remains steadfast in promoting the use of South-South and Triangular Cooperation as a pillar of sustainable peace. We stand ready to share our lessons and to learn from others. And we invite partners to engage with us not simply as recipients of assistance, but as equal contributors in shaping global peace and resilience.
Thank you.