DEVELOPMENT: G-77 Summit to Push More South-South Collaboration

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Mar 27 2000 (IPS) - Co-operation among developing nations is a major point on the agenda for the upcoming Group of 77 (G-77) Summit, and has the best chance of bearing fruit for the 133 countries that make up the organisation.

With preparations underway for the meeting of G-77 heads of state, to be held in Havana April 10 through 14, Cuba has put a file of joint projects in the hands of experts that could serve as the starting point for discussions.

“It’s nothing more than our contribution to resolve, in practice, the urgent issues of health, education, research and others,” María de los Angeles Florez, Cuba’s assistant foreign minister for Multilateral Affairs, told the state-run press.

In her opinion, the countries of the industrialised North would have to comply with their pledged development assistance, set at 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), but the nations of the South must also co-operate with each other.

In 1970, the United Nations General Assembly established the goal for wealthy countries to earmark 0.7 percent of their GDP for assistance to development nations. Currently, only four – Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – have reached or surpassed that mark.

Official development aid from the North to the South in 1992 reached 61 billion dollars. By 1997, the total had fallen to 47.6 billion.

But developing nations “can contribute with joint, regional and even bilateral projects,” said Florez, who pointed out that the G- 77 Summit will be the largest held in Cuba since the Sixth Summit of Non-Aligned Countries in 1979.

With the exception of the United States, all members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which unites the world’s wealthiest nations, have reaffirmed their pledge to bring development assistance for the South up to 0.7 percent of their respective GDPs.

Analysts agree that the issue will likely be spark debate, not only regarding the need for the aid, but also about special attention for programmes targeting education, health and social security in the nations of the South.

These fundamental areas have been “dramatically affected by the economic adjustment and restructuring programmes imposed within the current globalisation process,” said one observer.

Cuba has a long history of co-operation with nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America, even since it lost the aid it received from the now-defunct Soviet Union and former socialist bloc of eastern Europe – and explains the island nation’s special interest in the subject.

Today, there are 4,359 Cuban technicians, professionals and specialists providing their services in 90 nations.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, 2,685 Cubans are working on development programmes, in addition to 1,389 in Africa, 249 in Europe and 36 in Asia, providing assistance in areas ranging from medicine, education, and construction to sports, hydro- electricity, agriculture and research.

Initially, this co-opeartion was completely free of charge, including international transportation and supplies for personnel, but the receiving nations, especially those with financial resources available, have been assuming some of the expenses since the late 1980s.

However, Cuba still works under the principle that it will not charge for technical assistance, underscored government sources.

They estimate that throughout the nearly 38 years of Cuban development collaboration, more than 90,000 people from the island have provided technical assistance in Africa in more than 40 areas, including public health, education, agriculture, transportation, construction, sports, fishing and industry.

From 1965 through 1998, 37,000 scholarship students from 120 countries graduated from Cuban universities, 13,786 with advanced degrees. Another 7,090 African workers improved their labour qualifications through training programmes on the island.

Cuba’s most recent assistance programme, which has greatest resonance for Latin America, is in the health arena – the Fidel Castro government’s major point of pride.

As a result of the hurricanes Georges and Mitch, which pummeled Central America in 1998, Castro put his Integral Medical Attention Plan into action, still in effect today with medical brigades in Belize, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras.

This programme was later extended to sub-Saharan Africa and included the creation in Havana of the Latin American School of Medicine, which has enrolled more than 3,000 students from 20 countries since last year.

So far, the students’ education and living expenses have been covered by the Cuban government, including Haitian students in Santiago de Cuba, 967 km from the capital.