The South is becoming a major player in world industry and trade. Since the 1980s, its share in world manufacturing added has almost doubled; its share in world exports has more than doubled, and South-South trade is rapidly increasing. The rise of the South stimulates South-South cooperation in a number of ways: Through regional groupings, through the activities of the Group of 77, and through direct economic interaction in the form of South-South trade, investment and technology transfer. South-South cooperation can become a major instrument for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by the international community through the Millennium Declaration issued by the UN General Assembly in September 2000. This publication will mainly focus on the contribution of industry and trade to the realization of MDG No. 1, poverty reduction, which is a particularly pressing issue in the least developed countries (LDCs) and Sub-Saharan Africa.