By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Apr 12 2000 (IPS)

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Wednesday in Cuba on the 133 developing nations represented by the Group of 77 (G-77) to adopt a common stance with a view to the UN General Assembly deliberations to begin in September.

“The voice of the South must not only be loud and clear, but consistent and constructive,” to make any demand aimed at the industrialised North more credible and convincing, Annan told the representatives of 122 countries attending this week’s South Summit in Havana.

This year’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York is to be kicked off by the so-called Millenium Summit of heads of state and government in September.

Annan also urged the countries of the North to write off the public debts of the most highly indebted poor countries, open their markets to products from the South and be more generous in providing development aid.

“I’m sure that these demands will find an echo at this summit,” which could not have been held at a better time, Annan told the meeting of heads of state and government of G-77 members, the largest single grouping of developing countries in the United Nations.

The G-77, officially created in October 1967, owes its name to an alliance of 77 developing nations attending the first UN Conference on Trade and Development, held in 1964 in Geneva.

Annan’s call for debt relief was echoed by the other three key- note speakers at Wednesday’s session: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current chair of the G-77; South African President Thabo Mbeki, the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement; and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

“Once more I must repeat what we have been saying since 1985: the debt has already been paid,” said Castro in a characteristically radical speech which he asked to deliver at the end of Wednesday’s inaugural session.

For his part, Obasanjo said that in the spirit of shared responsibility for the foreign debt burden, industrialised countries should consider the possibility of writing off the debt owed by the world’s poorest countries.

Mbeki, meanwhile, stressed the potential consequences for the North of any crisis in the developing South.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque issued a similar warning Tuesday, underlining that an increase in poverty in the South could trigger an even bigger wave of emigration towards the North.

Annan said the South should play “a more active and influential role” in global affairs. But, he stressed, that will depend on the efforts of developing nations themselves, and their ability to act together.

This is especially important now, he said, given that the Millenium Summit could be “a unique opportunity” to mobilise global energies towards a common agenda.

The UN official said his Millenium report, to be presented in September in New York, would focus on priority issues on which all countries could concentrate their energies, rather than breaking down the questions country by country or region by region.

Humanity will not benefit from a summit in which the world’s leaders quarrel and complain, he warned, after summing up his proposals to reduce poverty, fight drug trafficking and ensure access to new technologies by the South.

He underscored that in order for the South to insert itself into today’s global economy, it would need to gain access to the new information technologies.

Since these new technologies require less capital content than industrial technologies of the past, they can enable poor countries to bypass lengthy stages of development through which industrialised nations had to pass, he pointed out.

Annan, who began his official visit to Cuba Tuesday, said the country hosting the summit had demonstrated that a poor nation did not necessarily have to leave its people vulnerable to life’s calamities.

The UN secretary-general met behind closed doors Tuesday with Castro, and gave a conference on globalisation – one of the key points on the agenda of this week’s South Summit, which runs through Friday – in the great hall of the University of Havana.

Attending the summit are 42 heads of state and government, 13 vice-presidents and deputy prime ministers and 77 foreign ministers – according to the latest official reports – as well as high-level representatives of the UN Development Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Fund for Population Activities.

Excerpt:

By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Apr 12 2000 (IPS)

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Wednesday in Cuba on the 133 developing nations represented by the Group of 77 (G-77) to adopt a common stance with a view to the UN General Assembly deliberations to begin in September.

“The voice of the South must not only be loud and clear, but consistent and constructive,” to make any demand aimed at the industrialised North more credible and convincing, Annan told the representatives of 122 countries attending this week’s South Summit in Havana.

This year’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York is to be kicked off by the so-called Millenium Summit of heads of state and government in September.

Annan also urged the countries of the North to write off the public debts of the most highly indebted poor countries, open their markets to products from the South and be more generous in providing development aid.

“I’m sure that these demands will find an echo at this summit,” which could not have been held at a better time, Annan told the meeting of heads of state and government of G-77 members, the largest single grouping of developing countries in the United Nations.

The G-77, officially created in October 1967, owes its name to an alliance of 77 developing nations attending the first UN Conference on Trade and Development, held in 1964 in Geneva.

Annan’s call for debt relief was echoed by the other three key- note speakers at Wednesday’s session: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current chair of the G-77; South African President Thabo Mbeki, the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement; and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

“Once more I must repeat what we have been saying since 1985: the debt has already been paid,” said Castro in a characteristically radical speech which he asked to deliver at the end of Wednesday’s inaugural session.

For his part, Obasanjo said that in the spirit of shared responsibility for the foreign debt burden, industrialised countries should consider the possibility of writing off the debt owed by the world’s poorest countries.

Mbeki, meanwhile, stressed the potential consequences for the North of any crisis in the developing South.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque issued a similar warning Tuesday, underlining that an increase in poverty in the South could trigger an even bigger wave of emigration towards the North.

Annan said the South should play “a more active and influential role” in global affairs. But, he stressed, that will depend on the efforts of developing nations themselves, and their ability to act together.

This is especially important now, he said, given that the Millenium Summit could be “a unique opportunity” to mobilise global energies towards a common agenda.

The UN official said his Millenium report, to be presented in September in New York, would focus on priority issues on which all countries could concentrate their energies, rather than breaking down the questions country by country or region by region.

Humanity will not benefit from a summit in which the world’s leaders quarrel and complain, he warned, after summing up his proposals to reduce poverty, fight drug trafficking and ensure access to new technologies by the South.

He underscored that in order for the South to insert itself into today’s global economy, it would need to gain access to the new information technologies.

Since these new technologies require less capital content than industrial technologies of the past, they can enable poor countries to bypass lengthy stages of development through which industrialised nations had to pass, he pointed out.

Annan, who began his official visit to Cuba Tuesday, said the country hosting the summit had demonstrated that a poor nation did not necessarily have to leave its people vulnerable to life’s calamities.

The UN secretary-general met behind closed doors Tuesday with Castro, and gave a conference on globalisation – one of the key points on the agenda of this week’s South Summit, which runs through Friday – in the great hall of the University of Havana.

Attending the summit are 42 heads of state and government, 13 vice-presidents and deputy prime ministers and 77 foreign ministers – according to the latest official reports – as well as high-level representatives of the UN Development Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and the UN Fund for Population Activities.

Excerpt: