The G77 began with a call for the South to “change the rules of the game”

2023-09-16 00:57:00

G77 began with a call for the South to “change the rules of the game” and quotes Fidel Castro and Chávez

VER VIDEO

The G77+China summit began this Friday in Havana with heterogeneous discourses but also common points linked to modifying the global financial system, demanding greater commitment from industrialized countries to climate change and deepening cooperation between the Global South, especially in science and technology.

“The world is failing developing countries“said the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, in one of the most resonant phrases that he left on the first day of the meeting that will conclude on Saturday with the presentation of a final statement which has already been agreed upon by the 134 States that make up the bloc.

????Official Photo of the Heads of State or Government, and other Heads of Delegations of the member countries of the G-77 and China.#CubaG77 pic.twitter.com/qMm6G5thCs

— Cuba Presidency | G-77 and China (@cubag77) September 15, 2023

This text will delve into several of the topics that were mentioned by the heads of delegations in the almost 60 speeches planned during the day, an extension so long that it led the organizers to eliminate a scheduled break and unite the morning and afternoon debates. .

Start of the summit

The activity began with the arrival of the leaders at the Convention Palace, the largest exhibition center on the island with its 60,000 square meters divided into 11 rooms and located in one of the most residential neighborhoods of the city.

The presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; from Colombia, Gustavo Petro; from Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega; and from Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, were some of the leaders of the region who attended the summit, which was also attended by heads of delegations from countries in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Photo: AFP.
At the opening ceremony, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, indicated that “it is up to the South to change the rules of the game” and mentioned that these nations are the “main victims of the current multidimensional crisis,” among which he included “ the cyclical disasters of international trade and finance, the effects of climate change and the depletion of natural resources.”

“We now demand the pending democratization of the system of international relations. “It is the people of the south who suffer the most from hunger, misery, death from curable diseases, illiteracy, human displacement and other consequences of underdevelopment,” he said in an event that was attended by Raúl Castro and quotes from Cuban leader Fidel Casto, the former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and the Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti.

Current challenges

Also at the opening ceremony, Guterres acknowledged that “many current global institutions” reflect “a bygone era.”“and highlighted the need to update the UN Security Council, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Photo: Presidency.
Economically, he called for “financial justice” and “urgent measures” because there are “many countries unable to service their debt” due to the effects of the pandemic, global inflation and “the impact of extreme climate phenomena.”

In the same sense, Fernández stated that the countries of the Global South have a “huge opportunity to demand equality” in this “changing era”where he also urged to reform “the financial system that continues to operate with the same logic.”

“Once again we see the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund applying the orthodox logic that led us to this state of crisis, of concentration of income in a few and a distribution of poverty among millions of human beings in this world” said the Argentine head of state.

The Ukrainian War

Both Gueterres’ and Petro’s speeches contained references to the war in Ukraine, a topic on which there is no consensus at the G77.

In that sense, the Colombian president asked the group to get involved “not to take a position between Russia and Ukraine,” but to promote a peace conference on this conflict, as well as another on the situation between Palestine and Israel.

Meanwhile, Maduro urged the G77 countries to seek “their own political models and not listen to the dictates of former powers or powers with colonial pretensions,” and indicated that in the 21st century the Global South “has to raise the flags of sovereignty and independence.”

The president was not on the original list of heads of delegations who had confirmed their invitation to the summit, but he finally decided to go to Cuba from China, where he carried out a tour that included a bilateral one with his counterpart Xi Jinping.

Another president who arrived on the island this Friday was Daniel Ortega, who when speaking at the summit expressed his rejection of “the imposition of laws and regulations with extraterritorial effects,” before highlighting that Cuba has been “confronting, resisting and conquering for 60 years.” to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.

The condemnation of this blockade was another axis that ran through the speeches.

On the night of this Friday, the delegations will attend a dinner offered by Díaz-Canel at the Palace of the Revolution, while the summit, which is held under the motto “The current challenges of development: role of science, technology and innovation”, will conclude on Saturday with a new session of debates that will be opened by the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will arrive this Friday in Havana.

In search of a consensus statement

The summit will conclude with the presentation of the final declaration that will focus on the problems of developing countries to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, with criticism of the pressures to pay external debts and the lack of financing for the development.

In addition, special emphasis will be placed on the fact that collaboration and solidarity on the part of the most industrialized countries must prevail to combat climate change, as they are the ones that produce the most greenhouse gases.

The draft resolution of the final text also rejects unilateral coercive measures and highlights the role of science, technology and innovation “as catalysts to support sustained growth.”