DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH: G-77 Meets in Cuba to Create Unity, Answers

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Apr 7 2000 (IPS) - The summit of heads of state representing the Group of 77 (G-77) next week in the Cuban capital must make unity a priority if they are to meet the challenge of finding solutions for the developing South’s array of urgent problems.

The Cuban hosts of the four-day meeting believe solidarity and unity should be the key words for the event. “Separated, disunited, we do not have a chance. United, integrated, jointly defending our interests, we have a real opportunity to make our voice heard,” said Cuba’s Foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque.

For Pérez Roque, president of the summit organising committee, there is a real possibility for “opening a co-ordination process” among the G-77 members to fight for their common goals.

The other big challenge, in his view, is to ensure that the meeting bears fruit in the medium and long term. “We will have to see if we are capable” of preventing the summit from turning into “just another rhetorical discussion of the problems, with no follow-up or practical impact later,” he said.

Globalisation and its effects on the nations of the South, education and technology, South-South co-operation and North-South relations are the four major items on the agenda.

At the end of the week’s debates, leaders from at least 65 of the 133 nations that currently make up the G-77 will sign a final declaration outlining the forum’s strategy and action plan, which is to include the four agenda items and the definition of goals and time-frames for implementing initiatives.

The resolutions may become part of a United Nations (UN) plan for the 21st century, which is expected to be approved during what has been dubbed the Millennium Summit, to be held in September at the UN’s New York headquarters. The heads of state of the 188 UN member nations have all been invited to take part.

The draft of the G-77’s action plan, prepared by the forum president’s office (currently held by Nigeria), demands the reform of the world trade system, whose protectionist measures currently close the door on exports from the South.

Another proposal included in the document is to create a world finance organisation that ensures the full participation of developing countries in the decision-making process for international economic policies.

Most developing countries complain that this process is in the hands of multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which are dominated by the donor countries of the industrialised North.

They also believe that the international trade system should promote economic growth in the nations of the South, and that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) cannot demand the same commitments from all its members, as it must take into account their varying levels of development.

Reform of the international financial structure must involve mechanisms for financing development and to ensure financial stability, according to the draft.

This reform would include regulating the movement of speculative funds and reinforcing the response capacity for helping countries deal with emergency situations, such as the Asian financial crisis that began in 1997.

The summit document also reflects the concern about the rising debt service of many developing countries.

According to official data, the combined debt of the nations of the South grew from slightly more than 500 billion dollars in 1980 to 1.5 trillion in 1990 and to 2.5 trillion in 1998.

Founded in October 1967, the G-77 takes its name from the alliance of the 77 developing countries that took part in the first meeting of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, held in Geneva in 1964.

The agenda for next week’s meeting in Havana includes bilateral dialogue among participants, along the lines of what has become customary for the Ibero-American Summits.

The G-77’s plenary sessions will take place in Havana’s Convention Palace, a structure built for the Sixth Summit of Non- Aligned Countries in 1979.