{"id":111506,"date":"2021-02-09T17:14:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T00:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=111506"},"modified":"2021-02-09T17:14:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T00:14:11","slug":"the-west-vs-global-south-you-have-the-numbers-we-have-the-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/02\/09\/the-west-vs-global-south-you-have-the-numbers-we-have-the-money\/","title":{"rendered":"The West vs Global South: \u201cYou Have the Numbers. We Have the Money\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thalif Deen Courtesy The Daily News<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Sri Lanka\u2019s\nenvoy in China Dr Palitha Kohona-Journalist Chakravarthi Raghavan<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the 134-member Group of 77, the largest single\ncoalition of developing countries, was trying to strike a hard bargain in its\nnegotiations with Western nations years ago, one of its envoys famously\ndeclared: You have the numbers. We have the money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that implicit threat \u2013 signifying the power of the\npurse\u2013 did not deter the G77 from playing a key role in helping shape the UN\u2019s\nsocio-economic agenda, including sustainable development, environmental\nprotection, universal health care, South\u2013South cooperation, eradication of\nextreme poverty and hunger \u2013 all of them culminating largely in the 17\nSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 and targeted for a 2030\ndeadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The People\u2019s Republic of China, the world\u2019s second\nlargest economy after the US, has remained an integral part \u2013 and a strong\nsupporter \u2013 of the G77, going back to the historic 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that summit meeting \u2013 which marked a battle between\nthe West and the global South over funding to promote development while\nprotecting the environment \u2013 a G77 delegate told his colleagues in a\nclosed-door gathering: We have to confront them with an iron fist cloaked in a\nvelvet glove.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G77\u2019s strength in numbers \u2013 with over two-thirds\nof the UN\u2019s 193-member states \u2013 provides it with an unparalleled political\nclout ranking ahead of the Non-Aligned Movement (with 120 members), the\nOrganization of Islamic Cooperation (57), the Asian Group (55), the African\nGroup (54), the Latin American and Caribbean Group (33) the European Union (27)\nand the Eastern European Group (23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the G77 focused on achieving sustainable\ndevelopment, NAM pursued the hard-core politics of the global South, including\nhuman rights, neo-colonialism, international security, military conflicts and\nUN peacekeeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking from Beijing, Dr Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka\u2019s\nAmbassador to China, told IPS that while many countries in the Western camp\nhave tended to dismiss the G77 and China as irrelevant to contemporary economic\nand political developments, the Group has provided the platform for developing\ncountries to make a profound input to contemporary global economic policy\nformulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its heyday, he pointed out, the G77 and China\ncontributed significantly to the development of the New International Economic\nOrder (NIEO) and the Law of the Sea regulatory framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Law of the Sea Convention is considered to\nbe the Constitution of the oceans and seas,\u201d said Dr Kohona, a one-time Chief\nof the UN Treaty Section and a former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to\nthe United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, he noted, its influence on the Rio\nProcess, the conventions on Climate Change, Biological Diversity, Hazardous\nWastes, Ozone, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable\nDevelopment Goals (SDGs) has been seminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the G77\u2019s influence on global policy\ndevelopment in these major areas of importance to humanity remain undiminished\nand cannot be underestimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These global rules are now impacting on policy\nformulation in the Bretton Woods institutions as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role played by individual intellectual giants from\nthe developing world in highlighting the G77 and China needs to be\nacknowledged, he argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today China has assumed a lead role in addressing the\nchallenge of climate change affecting the very survival of humanity,\u201d he\ndeclared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mourad Ahmia, Executive Secretary of the G77, told IPS\nthe integral role played by the Group in economic diplomacy and projecting the\ndevelopment interests of the global South is a testimony to its continued\nrelevance in the ongoing global development dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it was established on June 15, 1964, the signing\nnations of the well-known Joint Declaration of Seventy-Seven Countries formed the\nlargest intergovernmental organisation of developing countries in the United\nNations to articulate and promote their collective interests and common\ndevelopment agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>Since\nthe First Ministerial meeting of the G-77 held in Algeria in October 1967, and\nthe adoption of the Charter of Algiers, he pointed out, the Group of 77 laid\ndown the institutional mechanisms and structures that have contributed to\nshaping the international development agenda and changing the landscape of the\nglobal South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, he said, the Group has gained an\nincreasing role in the determination and conduct of international relations\nthrough global negotiations on major North\u2013South and development issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G-77 adheres to the principle that nations, big\nand small, deserve an equal voice in world affairs\u2026.Today the Group remains\nlinked by common geography and shared history of struggle for liberation,\nfreedom and South\u2013South solidarity, said Ahmia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Group has a presence worldwide at UN centres in\nNew York, Geneva, Nairobi, Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Washington D.C., and is\nactively involved in ongoing negotiations on a wide range of global issues\nincluding climate change, poverty eradication, migration, trade, and the Law of\nthe Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G-77 remains the only viable and operational\nmechanism in multilateral economic diplomacy within the UN system. The growing\nmembership is proof of its enduring strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chakravarthi Raghavan, the former Chief Editor of the\nGeneva-based SUNS, told IPS since its founding in 1964, the G77 came into\nbeing, along with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as an\norgan of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and brought about several changes for\nthe better in the international economic system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With UNCTAD came the scope for \u2018alternate view\u2019 to\n\u2018liberal\/neoliberal economics\u2019 and Generalized System of Preferences (GSP\nschemes) \u2013 True, they are voluntary, not mandatory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The principle of non-reciprocity, and Special and\nDifferential treatment in trade relations with developed countries (initially\nnon-binding, Part IV of GATT-1947, but contractual for developing countries\nafter 1994 Marrakesh Agreement for WTO) that the US now is trying to eliminate\nas part of its proposals for \u2018WTO Reform\u2019, said Raghavan, a former\nEditor-in-Chief of the Press Trust of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G77 also created the concept of \u2018development\u2019 as\nagainst the original IMF Bretton Woods concept of \u2018Reconstruction and\nDevelopment\u2019 for war-ravaged economies of Europe, said Raghavan, winner of the\n1997 G77\/UN Development Programme (UNDP) Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the immediate post-war order, the major\nIndustrialized countries decided on policy (with US holding a veto on most\ndecisions) that others were forced to accept. Now there is at least an attempt\nat dialogue (from G7 to G20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, said Raghavan, the G77 concerned itself\nonly with economic issues; the much earlier NAM dealt with political and\nsecurity issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But gradually, individual G77 members, brought their\npolitical and security issues and alliances with Great Powers, to influence the\nG77 decision-making. This has resulted in weakening the G77 positions and\ninfluence in international economic matters, declared Raghavan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(The\nwriter is a former editor of the Journal of the Group of 77)(IPS)<\/strong>
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