Indonesia officially elected chair of Group-77
Indonesia officially elected chair of Group-77
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia was unanimously elected chair of the
Group of 77 during the group's 21st annual meeting of foreign
ministers in New York Friday.
Indonesia will officially take over its first chairmanship of
the 132-member group from Tanzania next year.
"I trust that we will be able to harness the collective wisdom
and tremendous energies of our Group so that we could bring
forward the cause of progress through the global dialog on
development of South-South cooperation," Minister of Foreign Ali
Alatas said in his speech, a copy of which was obtained here
yesterday.
The two other nominees, Bangladesh and Iraq, had withdrawn
from the running.
"We are especially thankful to the People's Republic of
Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran for their gracious
cooperation, which ensured unanimity in Indonesia's election,"
Alatas said.
The one-year chairmanship is rotated among each region --
Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Group was established by 77 developing countries in Geneva
in 1964 to strengthen their position in the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
It retains its original name even though its membership has
increased significantly over the years.
In contrast to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which also
groups developing countries, the Group is centered on economic
affairs, especially in multilateral negotiations at the UN forum.
Alatas and other G-77 ministers are in New York to attend the
52nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking on the need for UN reform, Alatas stressed there
should be a continued focus on backing such efforts.
"We cannot muster concerted global action nor can we form an
equitable global partnership for development if the UN itself
does not become a more effective, efficient and democratic
instrument of international cooperation," Alatas remarked.
"Nor should we allow discussions on the core issues of
development to be shifted out to forums other than the UN."
Alatas reiterated Indonesia's support of UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's plan to revitalize and reform the body.
He said the role of the UN should not be limited to
humanitarian assistance and post-conflict peace efforts.
"We believe that the cause of development would be better
served if the proposed reform package also directly addressed
such core issues as those of trade, money, finance, debt crisis
and technology transfer," Alatas said.
The minister called for developing countries to boost
cooperation among themselves to enable them to have a more
influential voice in international economic affairs.
"Thus united, we can solve many of our problems and contribute
concretely to the cause of justice and widely shared prosperity,"
he said. (prb)