G77+China Summit to Tackle Core Development Issues

On Friday and Saturday, the Group of 77 plus China (G77+China) Summit will tackle core development issues, while the Cuban capital is geared up to receive delegations from over 100 countries.

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"The summit aims to evaluate and debate the main challenges and core issues of the development of the nations of the South," Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez said.

"We hope that the upcoming summit in Havana strengthens the voice of the Group of 77 and China," he pointed out, adding that "the road to development is intrinsically related to science, technology, and innovation."

Held under the banner "Current development challenges: the role of science, technology and innovation," the summit is set to issue a final declaration that will include the purposes and principles of the bloc and address the needs of developing countries, said Rodriguez.

The text reads, "Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel receives in an official ceremony Thongloun Sisoulith, the president of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. He is visiting our country to participate in the G77 Summit, on Sept. 15 and 16."

The declaration will highlight developing nations' "right to development amid an increasingly exclusive, inequitable, unjust and plundering international order," he pointed out.

Jose Ramon Cabanas, director of the International Policy Research Center of Cuba, said that the summit will demonstrate the consensus reached by G77+China member states.

"This summit is taking place in a critical moment in history in the middle of a post-pandemic period," he said, stressing the importance of cooperation and solidarity.

Cuban expert Ramon Pichs said that the G77+China Summit will be essential to address pressing topics like climate emergencies.

"For developing countries, for G77+China and Cuba, the moment to act in regards to climate change is now," he said, calling the issue a massive challenge for the development of countries.

United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres will speak at the summit's opening, together with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Cuba took on the rotating presidency of the G77 plus China this January.