Geneva. The handover ceremony of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) took place today, January 28, at the Palais des Nations.
In his statement, Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson acknowledged the work of Cambodia, outgoing chair of the Group, at UNCTAD, and welcomed Peru, which is taking over the chairmanship for 2025.
The Ambassador highlighted the preparation and holding of the Sixteenth Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to be held in Vietnam next October, as the top priority for this year's work. He emphasized that the meeting would be of significant importance for developing countries, as its outcomes will guide UNCTAD's work over the last four years of implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In addition, Benítez emphasized that for Cuba, a priority is ensuring that the Sixteenth Conference outcome document reflects the need to put an end to measures that affect the economic and social performance of developing countries, in contravention of the Charter of the United Nations and International Law. He described the blockade imposed on Cuba as the most extensive, comprehensive, and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any country in history.
On behalf of the Cuban people and government, the Cuban representative thanked the numerous expressions of support and solidarity received from many of the Group's member countries following the announcement by the new United States Government that it will revoke the decision taken just a few days ago by its predecessor, and will place Cuba back on the unilateral and arbitrary list of States allegedly sponsoring terrorism, a designation that evidences an absolute disregard for the truth.
The G77 and China, currently comprising 134 member States, is the group that represents the interests of the majority of the world's nations within the framework of the United Nations.