UN SEES GROWING ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, STRONGER INTER-COOPERATION ON OCCASION OF G-77 MEETING IN MARRAKESH

UN SEES GROWING ECONOMIC INFLUENCE OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, STRONGER

INTER-COOPERATION ON OCCASION OF G-77 MEETING IN MARRAKESH

NEW YORK, 16 December (UN Department of Public Information) -- “The spirit of solidarity in global trade and finance negotiations” of the developing countries must be sustained, and combined with South-South cooperation, as well as greater willingness of the North to make concessions on aid, trade and debt relief issues, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message delivered to the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, meeting today through 19 December in Marrakesh, Morocco.

In the statement delivered on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Jose Antonio Ocampo, the United Nations Secretary-General referred to cooperation between leading Powers of the developing countries in forming the Group of 21 countries during World Trade Organization negotiations, as well as similar determination at October meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions and of the United Nations General Assembly.

The development priorities of the 135 countries that are now members of the G-77 were sharply stressed by His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco.  Morocco presided over the G-77 at the United Nations during the course of this year.

Developing Country Summit Proposed for 2005

“The world is currently devoting its attention to peace and security matters and to the surge in international terrorism”, King Mohammed VI told attendees of the High-Level Conference on South-South Cooperation.  The challenge, he said, will be to “make every effort to ensure that development issues are brought back into the international limelight”.

The King proposed a G-77 summit meeting in 2005, to be held concurrently with the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly.

We can “raise our sights” on cooperation among developing countries, noted United Nations Development Programme Administrator Mark Malloch Brown.  Despite persistent poverty in many of the developing countries, some are achieving robust economic growth, he said.  Even more are seeing investment in education paying off in trained scientists and technicians and improved technological infrastructure.

That cooperation has included, and should emphasize, assistance for the most disadvantaged countries in the developing world, said Anwarul K. Chowdhury, the United Nations High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

Despite the encouraging rise in trade between developing countries -- now accounting for 40 per cent of their total worldwide trade volume, the 50 least developed countries (LDCs) participated in only 0.6 per cent of world trade in 2001, Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury said.  He pointed to the possibilities of investment from advanced developing countries in productive facilities in LDCs, to take advantage of LDC preferential access to Northern markets.

For more information, contact Tim Wall of the United Nations Department of Public Information, tel:  1-212-963-5851.

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