Addis Ababa, September 16, 2023 (The Ethiopian Herald)- “The group of 77 needs a collective reflection on how to face the new global realities to have access to development, eradicate poverty, defend cultures and take its rightful place in the global decision-making that affects everyone. Since its establishment, this group has played an important role as a representative of the South and defender of its interests in many negotiations. We are a group of countries characterized by diversity in terms of geography, cultures and levels of economic development. That diversity should not be weakness, but strength,” said former Cuban President Fidel Castro while attending the G-77 summit.
The summit of the G-77 member countries is underway in Havana, the Capital of Cuba which is the current president of the group. Today’s guest of The Ethiopian Herald is Cuban Ambassador to Ethiopia, Jorge Lefebre Nicolas. In the short stay, he had with Herald, Nicolas has raised the importance of the G-77 plus China summit, the contribution of his country to the group and other current issues. Have a nice read.
The G-77 is taking place in Cuba, Havana. Would you please give us a glimpse on the group, its inception and progress so far?
The G-77 group summit is underway in Cuba, Havana as of yesterday. So, the G-77 group is one of the most important governmental organizations in the world. It was created in 1964 under the umbrella of the United Nations. In the beginning, it gathered only 77 countries of the South. That was the moment of the decolonization of Africa. There were many liberation movements, fighting to get their independence from the North. The modern Africa was taking shape in that decade.
The dollar was the most important currency but started to lose value and it created a financial crisis in the world. That was the original aim of this group. A group of countries were united under the non-aligned movement. They don’t realize that they become bigger to more than 130 countries. But at that moment, the world was divided into the North, the West and the East. It was the Cold War. This group of countries decided to create a negotiating group to strengthen their negotiating capacity in front of the challenge of the North.
By now the group has increased its membership to 134 countries. These days we are talking about a group that reunites 80% of the world’s population. At this juncture, around two-thirds of the countries are members of the United Nations. So you cannot imagine the capacity of the group in terms of creating a common position from the south standing in front of the challenge facing from the North.
So, the role of this group was different from decades since its inception. At the beginning abstain was put on the colonization in cases like recognizing the independence of the new African countries at that moment, and then with the years they moved to some political issues but it mainly responded to economic inquiries such as how to create a new architecture in economic affairs.
We have poor economies that are dominated by the big banks from the northern countries. We need to have a strong negotiating position in front of them. Thanks to this group that was created in 1964, it made thorough discussion in the United Nations in 1972, many countries were members of the group, and they called to create a new international order.
At that moment, the most developed economies offer assistance for the development of countries like ours. Within the group, we have a common position to create a new international order which has not been achieved so far but many things have been possible due to the presence of the group. This is the first benefit that we get from the group. The negotiation capacity of all the countries of the South can be reunited within the group despite having differences in culture, level of economy and so on. But we have a common view about many issues.
The most important agreement signed under the umbrella of the United Nations on the economic field was the general agreement for tariffs and taxes. The group has an immense capacity to discuss with the north the challenge we have to the development. And more or less this year, that has been the activities of the group. And the group has been active. Since 1964 many organizations have been created and dissolved but the group is still there.
So every year, the group has sessions in the United Nations or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the group gathering in United Nations. They conserve positions and plan a strategy on how to avoid the challenges that every country has their challenge to develop. We can elaborate on all the challenges in one document to be approved by the United Nations.
And somehow, the North is not happy with the position of the group. However, through negotiations, we can get something from the developed countries and it is very important for the group. Now, Cuba is the president of the group for the first time and is expected to transfer the role to Uganda. The Theme of the summit is current development challenges: role of science, technology and innovation. Over the last three or four years, we have seen the pandemic. Thanks to science and technology, we can sit and discuss the pandemic.
Accordingly, we can provide food for the majority of the world’s population. You need to make use of modern technologies. Countries in the south have the land, water resources and others. However, we lack technology. So we need to make better use of the technology and we can get the latter from the north. We need a movement to meet them to share that with the countries in need. So that is also the importance of the group.
Every country cannot get something by standing alone. It would rather be very vulnerable. By being a member of the group, people with similar challenges gather together and have a common position on some issues. So, they are in a better position to discuss with the country with resources and it is wonderful if you do it through the United Nations. And now we are holding the summit as of yesterday with the presence of a majority of the heads of the state and government of the group.
A great number of participants are expected to attend the summit. More than 50 heads of state and government are expected to attend the summit in Havana. We will be discussing the challenges facing the development and deliberate on how to make use of the resources. We have to have a better position on how to transform the financial architecture of the world as we need to do that. The heads of state are expected to devise a strategy to face development challenges.
We are going to support each other in sharing our technologies with the rest of the group to get some positive results. For instance, Cuba has relatively good potential in health. So we have been contributing to this group by deploying Cuban doctors, sharing our health
experience with the member countries and assisting countries to create universities for Health Sciences.
Why does the group sometimes refer to itself as G-77 Plus China? What is its relationship with China?
China has become one of the most important economies in the South. Then in 1992, China joined the group, not as a member, but as a special partner of the group. That’s why we call it G-77 plus China. China is an important international actor with a very strong economy. The program of cooperation of China with Africa, and Latin America, is very important for the benefit of these countries. So, having China in the group is imperative for the rest of the countries. So you can establish your strategies and plans on how to cooperate and get credit for the planned purpose. So, together as a group, we become very strong, but if we are standing alone, we are nothing. So that is why, we need to be together.
What important decisions are expected from this year’s G-77 plus China summit?
We discuss the problems we will face the future and establish a strategy for how we deal with them. Resolving the problem of providing food and shelter, proper utilization of the land and water resources, facing the consequence of conflict and so on are some of the discussion points that the group focused on. If we take the war in Ukraine, it creates a problem on the price of food all over the world. So, it needs a strategy to face that. We can help each other and establish that ground.
Ethiopia is also a founding member of the group. The country is also one of the most important economies in Africa. The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia were pleased to lead the Ethiopian delegation to participate in the summit in Havana. There will be consultations, negotiations and discussions on common problems and two days later leaders again meet in the UN general assembly that is going to be held in New York.
So that is the importance and the timeliness of this summit. So, we are going to discuss many issues there. And those issues will be taken to the General Assembly of the UN takes place this year.
Could you elaborate on the contribution of your country during its presidency of G-77 plus China?
First of all, we wanted to give more international presence to the group. So this year, during our presidency, we have convoked to meet very important issues. We have Cambodia summit for Education Ministers of the group, Ministers of Science and Technology and others. We have to make this meeting just to coordinate positions among the members of the group.
But what we want is to give the group coherence and to strengthen our positions to face the challenge that we have. Now, I think we have achieved that. The group is very respected by the United Nations. Even our enemies say when we secure the group, Cuba has given the group more visibility. This is because Cuban diplomacy is very skillful. And they have given a second brief to the group. That is true. Our diplomacy has been useful to give the group more international presence in all international forms. We are now going to international forums not alone but as a group. So when they organize the forum in Petersburg, or the Economic Forum in Davos, the group is there.
So, the presidency of the group has been there and the group has been present in those international forums. So it is a matter of giving visibility to the actions of the group as it has been a very important group throughout the years. The most important group of countries have remained together and many are now members of the group of 20, the BRICS. So, we have important members who have not been divided for long. Now, several countries have joined the group. The last country to join the group was South Sudan and it became part of the group in 2012.
After the United Nations, all the countries reunited but the UN is divided into regions and every region has its own lobby or pressure groups. But then you have the non-aligned movement, which was very effective during the Cold War.
Countries are not aligned with the United States and/or Russia. They do not adopt socialist and/ or capitalist blocs. They were in the middle. Now the context is different. So the Alliance does not have the same role that they had in the past. However, the G-77 is still there because its main focus was on issues related to the economy. It focuses on how to defend our economic rights, how to give food to our people, how to give education to our people, how to organize our negotiating position in front of the North and How to receive better benefits from the North.
We appreciate the presence of Ethiopia in Cuba, as we have not been receiving any Ethiopian delegation over the past 20 years, except former President Mulatu Teshome who attended the funeral ceremony of Fidel Castro, in Havana. Now, for the first time, the voice of Ethiopia will be heard in Havana, at the summit of the G-77. And I think that is important.
How has been the partnership and collaboration between Ethiopia and Cuba, especially about innovation and technology?
Over the last few years, we have been working together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build the capacity of every country for the development of innovation, science and technology. The visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen would help to sign an MOU in Cuba. About water resources, two months ago, we started full cooperation to capacitate the people working in this field. As Ethiopia has many water resources, it needs to apply an intelligent use of the water to provide the resource to agriculture here in Ethiopia.
Over the past years, we have had some kind of cooperation in health. We also have strong cooperation in biotechnological research, there is a Finlay Institute here and a biotechnology institute in Cuba. At the same time, we have a bilateral agenda. Cuba and Ethiopia are countries that share many things. We have a common history and we are strengthening our negotiation position in multilateral affairs. We support each other at the level of multilateral affairs.
Apart from attending the G-77 summit, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen is expected to officially reopen the Ethiopian embassy in Cuba, Havana. Though the embassy starts jobs before three months, now is the proper time for him to officially inaugurate the embassy. We are sure that we will get closer and elevate our ties in different fields. And we will see in the future more exchange of visits by delegations; other things will come and take the bilateral relations to a new level.
Ethiopia has now joined the BRCIS. What is your reflection?
First of all, I want to congratulate Ethiopia as it has chosen to be part of this group which is an important economic actor in international affairs.
By being a member of BRICS, the people may not get a benefit right tomorrow. However, in the long run, you will get a benefit from the monetary system of the economy. And they can share their resources with you. So, it opens economic possibilities for Ethiopia.
The BRICS countries decided to expand membership for the first time, though more than 20 countries have formally applied to join BRICS, a bloc of emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Ethiopia has become one among the six countries invited to become members of BRICS.
The countries chosen to be a member of the group are emerging economies. They would create a solid group of negotiations for economic issues. At the same time, the presence of China and India in that group enables it to establish an international bank for cooperation among them. The group will have a strong economy next to the north.
Thank you very much!
It’s my pleasure!
The Ethiopian Herald