Doha, 12 June
2005---
The Second South
Summit of the Group of 77 opened its first working session
this morning at the Doha Sheraton Hotel at the
level of senior officials and in presence of His Excellency
Ambassador Stafford Neil, Chairman of the Group of 77 and
Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations,
Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Permanent
Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations,
and Mr. Mourad Ahmia, Executive Secretary of the Group of
77.
In
his opening remarks to the senior officials of the 132
Member States of the Group of 77, Ambassador Stafford Neil,
in his capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77, referred to
the meeting as an "opportunity for the Group to demonstrate
unity and solidarity in its pursuit to advance the
collective will of its membership”. In the context of the
reform proposal of the United Nations, Ambassador Neil added
that "as we prepare for the 60 th session of the General
Assembly and the impending consultations on the outcome
document of the President of the General Assembly, we have
to be firm, bold and clear in our articulation of the views
and concerns of developing countries”. He stressed that the
Group of 77 and China “must ensure that advancing the
development agenda remains at the forefront of the reform
and activities to be undertaken. While in Doha, we must
avail ourselves of the opportunity to advance this objective
and to ensure that the G-77 is fully equipped to take on the
challenges of the very critical year”, he concluded.
Welcoming delegations to Doha, the Permanent Representative
of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and former
Chairman of the Group of 77 and China, Ambassador Nassir
Abulaziz Al-Nasser, outlined “the need to establish a real
global development agenda in which the Millennium
Development Goals and the related role of the United Nations
are given considerable significance”, in the perspective of
the Millennium Summit, to be held in September, in New York.
Ambassador Al-Nasser stressed the need to make “South-South
cooperation the real instrument for our development, while
recognizing that it cannot be a substitute for the
North-South negotiations. With this understanding, we need
to enhance the role of the South-South cooperation while
seeking to improve our position in the international
community”, he added.
Delegations convened in working groups to finalize the draft
Doha Declaration and Programme of Action, to be submitted to
the review of the Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign
Affairs scheduled tomorrow, Monday 13 June, before their
final adoption by the Summit of Heads of State and
Government, scheduled from 14-16 June 2005.
The Group of 77 was established in 1964 by seventy-seven
developing countries signatories of the “Joint Declaration
of the Seventy-Seven Countries” issued at the end of the
first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. Beginning with the first
Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 in Algiers in 1967
which adopted the Charter of Algiers, a permanent
institutional structure gradually developed which led to the
creation of Chapters of the Group of 77 in Rome (FAO);
Vienna (UNIDO); Paris (UNESCO); Nairobi (UNEP); and the
Group of 24 in Washington, DC (IMF and the World Bank).
Although the membership of the G-77 has increased to 132
countries, the original name was retained because of its
historical significance.
As
the largest coalition of developing countries in the United
Nations, the Group of 77 provides the means for the South to
articulate and promote its collective economic interests and
enhance its joint negotiating capacity on all major
international economic issues in the United Nations system,
including South-South cooperation. |