The idea that China establishes the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development was initiated and announced by Chinese President XI Jinping during the High-Level Roundtable on South-South Cooperation at the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the United Nations in New York on September 26, 2015.

With strong support from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance, and by virtue of Peking University’s strength in humanities and social sciences, Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) was officially established at the National School of Development of Peking University (NSD) on April 29, 2016. President XI Jinping has announced that China will enhance development experience-sharing and capacity-building cooperation with other countries through the platform of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development during his host of the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries on September 5, 2017 in Xiamen, Fujian.