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The two other nominees, Bangladesh and Iraq, had withdrawn from the running.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)