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G-77 Attaches Great Importance to South-North DialogueThe Group of 77 (G-77) Monday said that the body attaches great importance to the South-North dialogue and keep the door "wide open" for such a dialogue at a time when the official development assistance, the aid promised by developed countries, has been on decrease year by year and many developing countries are being marginalized in the current tide of globalization.Arthur Mbanefo, chairman of G-77 and the Nigerian permanent representative to the United Nations, told a press conference that "only very few countries are continuing to fulfill their commitment" to earmarking 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) as official development assistance to developing countries. "We tend to use the South Summit as an opportunity to revitalize the South-South cooperation so as to face the challenge of globalization," he said. But G-77, at the same time, also attached great importance to the dialogue between developed countries and developing nations, he said. In 1970, the United Nations General Assembly established the goal for wealthy countries to earmark 0.7 percent of their GDP for assistance to developing countries. Currently, only four -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- have reached or surpassed that mark. A majority of industrialized in the North have failed to comply with their pledged development assistance. "You can not force somebody to keep his promise, because you don't know what problems he may have had," he said. "But as far as the North-South dialogue is concerned, we have to keep the door wide open because we are not living in an isolated world." "Consequently, we will continue the dialogue," he said. "We are continuing this relationship and improving upon it." The North-South dialogue is top on the agenda of the South Summit of G-77, slated for April 10-14, the largest gathering of heads of state and government since the 1964 founding of the organization. "In the spirit of openness, we have also invited 54 developed countries, including members of OECD (the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development," he said. Official Development Assistance from the North to the South in 1992 reached 61 billion U.S. dollars. By 1997, the total had fallen to 47.6 billion U.S. dollars. With the exception of the United States, all members of OCED, which unites the world's wealthiest nations, have reaffirmed their pledge to bring development assistance for the South up to 0.7 percent of their respective GDPs. The Group of 77, with Nigeria holding its Chairmanship for the year 2000, was established on June 15, 1964 by 77 developing countries in Geneva. Although the membership of G-77 has increased to 133 countries, the original name was retained because of its historic significance. As the largest Third World coalition in the United Nations and the largest grouping in the South, G-77 provides the means for the developing world to articulate and promote its collective economic interests and enhance its joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues in the United Nations system, and promote economic and technical cooperation among developing countries. "G-77 is the negotiating organization in the United Nations," he said. "You can see simply without the United Nations, there is no G-77." G-77 has designated "the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century" as one of the topics for discussion by foreign ministers, scheduled to begin on Tuesday afternoon, he said. The broad themes of globalization, knowledge and technology, south-south cooperation and north-south relations are the principal focus of the Summit. The agenda thus reflects the enormous global challenges facing developing countries. The South Summit is an occasion for developing countries to galvanize their strength and solidarity into a truly energetic force capable of conditioning the international economic order in which they must operate.
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