‘GROUP OF 77’ OPENS ITS DOORS TO SOUTH-SOUTH-NORTH COOPERATION

‘GROUP OF 77’ OPENS ITS DOORS TO SOUTH-SOUTH-NORTH COOPERATION

Aims to Launch Partnerships, Concrete Initiatives at Marrakesh Conference

UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 11 December -– Executive heads of United Nations agencies and international aid organizations will join talks in Marrakesh, Morocco, 15 to 19 December, as the “Group of 77” developing countries and China (now 135 developing nations) seeks to establish new partnerships for economic and social cooperation.

For the first time ever, the Group of 77 will open its doors to affluent donor countries as well as non-governmental organization during the High Level Conference on South-South Cooperation.  During roundtable and plenary discussions, participants will identify practical steps and propose concrete actions for implementing some of the recent international declarations on social and economic issues, including the Millennium Development Goals.

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs José Antonio Ocampo will deliver a message from Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  Also attending will be United Nations Development Programme Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, the Secretary-General of the Geneva-based United NationsConference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rubens Ricupero, and Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from Rome.  Other United Nationsorganizations, including United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and World Health Organization (WHO), will send high-level representatives to the meeting.

The first day, Monday 15 December, will be dedicated to a special event on partnerships in Information and Communication Technology.  The plenary session will be opened on 16 December by King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the country that has presided over the G-77 during the current year.

High on the agenda for action will be:

-- interregional trade:  44 developing countries have entered into a Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP, whose Secretariat is in UNCTAD/Geneva), and the Marrakesh meeting will explore possibilities for strengthening and/or or extending the scope of the GSTP;

-- food security:  with FAO support, the Conference will strive to expand field projects for South-South cooperation in food production in order to tackle the chronic hunger and food insecurity that have continued to stalk the sub-Saharan African region, in particular;

-- water:  constricted access to secure freshwater is a growing problem for countries ranging from richest to poorest, one which the G-77 wants to address more effectively through regional management schemes;

-- information and communication technologies:  frustrated by the relatively slow pace of ICT penetration in most developing countries, but encouraged by the success of several members that have become world leaders in the field, developing countries will be hearing about capacity-building possibilities from UNCTAD, as well as the results of the World Summit on the Information Society, which takes place this week in Geneva.

-- healthand education:  the conference will encourage South-South cooperation in the fields of health and education.  Several developing countries have highly skilled professionals and can share their expertise with other developing countries in partnership with WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and other United Nations agencies.

-- investment:  the conference will emphasize new approaches to developing partnerships among developing countries with assistance from the developed countries in South-South-North triangular arrangements.

-- renewable energy:  UNIDO/Vienna will launch a South-South cooperative initiative in bio-mass energy as part of efforts to enhance energy development among G-77 and China members.

      New Forces to Be Reckoned with

The developing countries have emerged as a growing force since the economic expansion of the 1990s.  Overall, G-77 member States have bolstered per capita income and built up trade and cross-border investment, both absolutely and as a share of the world total, although there is a growing gap between the poorest and most prosperous countries.  While economic growth has slowed since 2000, the United Nations estimates that economies in developing countries will grow by 3.8 per cent in 2003 and 4.7 per cent in 2004.  Nations such as China, India, South Africa and Brazil have become key world players in trade, finance, investment, politics and technology.

The G-77 countries have also made progress on South-South reliance.  Forty per cent of total developing country trade takes place between the developing countries themselves, according to United Nations economists.  Regional trade agreements have taken effect in Southeast Asia, southern Africa, the Andean region, and the southern cone of South America; and the Latin American Reserve Fund, the Arab Monetary Fund and the newly formed Chang Mai Initiative in East Asia are providing regional sources of financial liquidity, complementing that of the international financial institutions.  The New Economic Programme for African Development (NEPAD) is building renewed hope for political and economic progress in Africa.

      Questions about Liberalization

Nevertheless, some dissatisfaction with recent trends is expected to emerge in the G-77 declaration that will be issued in Marrakesh.  There is growing concern that the emphasis on security issues are distracting international focus away from development, which is generally considered by G-77 leaders to be the best hope for the future.  Agreements made by the developed countries at global development conferences and at the Millennium Summit at the United Nations in 2000 have not been fully implemented, many leaders are pointing out.

Furthermore, the economic liberalization that has been urged on the developing countries does not easily or automatically produce economic and social payoffs, according to experts.  With development aid below expectations and the positive effects of globalization unevenly spread, many countries, not just in Africa, are frustrated in their efforts to reduce extreme poverty.

These and other primary concerns will be examined in depth during conference discussions.  The meeting’s final declaration and plan of implementation will offer concrete steps and proposals for the short and medium term and offer development initiatives that deliver on recent promises.

For additional information, please contact:  Ms. Souad Elalaoui, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Morocco to the United Nations., tel,:  (212) 421-1580, e-mail: alaoui@morocco-un.org; or Vivienne Heston-Demirel in the United Nations Department of Public Information, tel.: (212) 963-2932, e-mail:  heston-demirel@un.org, or visit the G-77 web site: www.g77.org.

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