Paris, September 6. UNESCO Assistant Director General for Natural Sciences, Ms. Lidia Arthur Brito will represent UNESCO at the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Group of 77 and China, to be held in Havana on 15 and 16 September 2023.
Under the theme: "Current Development Challenges: Role of Science, Technology and Innovation", the Havana Summit will strengthen the unity of the Group and will decide collective and practical actions to face in an effective manner the contemporary challenges.
The G77 + China, which emerged in June 1964, is the largest and most diverse consultative group in the multilateral sphere, with 134 member states representing two thirds of the membership of the United Nations and 80 per cent of the world’s population.
Cuba assumed the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Group in January of this year, which was the first time that the Caribbean Island leads this negotiating group of developing countries.
To say of Mrs. Brito, the G-77 has great value in the current context because of its representativeness and diversity of voices, and the central theme of the Summit is in line with Cuba’s work on science as a driver of development.
UNESCO has recognized Cuba’s leadership in scientific cooperation and the international prestige and political capital gained by the Caribbean nation in this area.
The Summit will be an opportunity to continue to strengthen the historic relations of cooperation with UNESCO in the areas of competence of the Organization, especially in the sciences.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to UNESCO.