Facts about G77+China summit that Uganda will takeover from Cuba in January 2024

In January 2024, the Republic of Cuba will pass on chairmanship of the G77+China summit to Uganda. This will happen as the country hosts both the G77 summit and Non-aligned Movement, the first time a country has hosted both conferences at the same time. But what is the G77+China Summit?

The Group of 77 (G-77) was established on 15th June 1964 by seventy-seven developing countries signatories of the “Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries” issued at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. Although the members of the G-77 have increased to 135 countries, the original name was retained due to its historic significance.

Cuba hosted the summit in September

As the largest coalition of developing countries in the United Nations, the Group of 77 provides the means for the South 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, including South-South cooperation.

The South Summit is the supreme decision-making body of the Group of 77. The First and the second south summits were held in Havana, Cuba, on 10 – 14th April 2000 and in Doha, Qatar, on 12th – 16th June 2005, respectively. In accordance with the principle of geographical rotation, the Third South Summit will be held in Africa, in Kampala, Uganda, on 21st – 23rd January 2024.

LEADERSHIP

A Chairman, who acts as the Group’s spokesman, coordinates the Group’s action in each Chapter. The Chairmanship, which is the highest political body within the organizational structure of the Group of 77, rotates on a regional basis (between Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean) and is held for one year in all the Chapters. Currently the Republic of Cuba holds the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 in New York for the year 2022.

Ambassador Pedro L. Pedroso Cuesta, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations

THE CHAPTERS

Beginning with the first “Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77” in Algiers, Algeria on 10 – 25 October 1967 which adopted the “Charter of Algiers”, a permanent institutional structure gradually developed, which led to the creation of Chapters of the Group of 77 with Liaison offices in:

• Geneva (UNCTAD/ FAO/ WFP/IFAD)
• Nairobi (UNEP)
• Paris (UNESCO)
• Rome (FAO/IFAD)
• Vienna (UNIDO)
• Group of 24 (G-24) in Washington, D.C. (IMF and World Bank).