By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Apr 10 2000 (IPS)

Some 1,000 representatives from the 133 member countries of the Group of 77 (G-77) coalition of developing nations and international bodies began to meet Monday in Havana to seek new routes for North-South dialogue.

The G-77 is the largest single coalition of developing countries in the United Nations. Founded in October 1967, the group owes its name to an alliance of 77 developing countries attending the first meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) held in 1964 in Geneva.

Inaugurating the so-called South Summit in Havana’s Palace of Conventions, the chair of the G-77, Nigerian ambassador to the United Nations Arthur Mbanefo, said the group’s first summit was “an unprecedented opportunity for the South.”

What we need is a united world, for which ongoing dialogue between the North and South is crucial, said Mbanefo.

At least 40 heads of state and government and around 20 other dignataries, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will meet Wednesday through Friday in Havana to approve the final declaration.

The summit organisers said 122 delegations were accredited so far, and more than 60 countries will be represented by heads of state or government, vice-presidents or deputy prime ministers, while 40 will be represented by deputy foreign ministers.

Delegates of 34 countries that do not form part of the G-77 and of 35 international institutions are also participating in this week’s gathering as guests.

On Monday, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister María de los Angeles Flores said her country hoped that the South Summit would identify routes allowing the development of coherent and viable cooperation programmes among G-77 members.

“Most of us are not rich in natural resources, but we are rich in human resources,” said Flores.

Cuba puts high priority on cooperation among countries of the developing South, which it sees as key for the optimal use of resources towards the collective good, especially given the steady decline in development aid.

“We have to see if we are capable of preventing the summit from becoming merely a rhetorical discussion of problems, with no follow-up or practical impact,” said Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque.

The draft declaration drawn up by Cuba highlights the need “for a humane new world order focused on inverting the growing disparities beween poor and rich, both within, and among, nations.”

The document calls for a democratic international economic system that responds to the needs of developing countries, whose economic potential has been compromised in the past few decades by factors beyond their control.

Originally 43 pages long, the document has already been reduced to 15 pages, and some of the more strident points have been toned down.

The officials of the G-77 member countries and delegates of international bodies are studying a draft action plan aimed at promoting key initiatives within specific timeframes.

“We are deeply concerned over the present state of North-South relations and the weakening of the commitment by developed countries to international aid,” states the action plan, which is seeking “a new North-South partnership.”

The plan, drafted by the chair of the G-77, stresses the need for a “structural adjustment” in developed countries to favour market access by the exports of developing countries and the elimination of protectionist measures and subsidies.

The heads of state and government signing the document will commit themselves to promoting the “effective participation” of developing countries in adopting economic policy decisions in the international sphere.

They will pledge to make efforts towards revitalising the role of the UN system in fomenting development, giving a boost to international cooperation, and guaranteeing access by the South to technology and knowhow.

The signatories will also commit themselves to fomenting trade and South-South investment, cooperating in monetary and financial questions, strengthening human resources and skills, and promoting cooperation and multilateral accords.

The officials gathered in Havana are evaluating dozens of projects agreed on at a Mar 20 meeting of experts on South-South cooperation in New York.

The draft documents of the action programme and final declaration will begin to be studied Tuesday by the foreign ministers of G-77 member countries, who will put the final touches to the documents prior to the arrival of the heads of state and government.

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