by C. Alessandro Mauceri –
While in the West we are trying to understand what the leaders of the G7 countries have decided (everyone says they are ready to help Ukraine by supplying weapons and armaments, but in reality many have already withdrawn), in the rest of the world we are thinking about other.
The G77 meetings took place in September, the group originally made up of 77 developing or poor countries (plus China). Born in 1964, with the signing of the “United Declaration of the 77 States”, during the meeting in Geneva of the United Nations Conference on Development and Trade, UNCTAD, the first meetings of the G77 were held in Algiers in 1967. On that occasion the member states approved the “Charter of Algiers”, a permanent institutional document. Over time, this group has grown to become an important reality. Today it includes 134 states plus China. The overall numbers are important: the member countries bring together more than 80% of the world’s population. In terms of GDP, the total Gross Domestic Product of the G77 countries (with China) is greater than the GDP of the G7 countries or the “developed” country groups. But it’s not enough. The member countries of the G77 are 2/3 of the member states of the UN. This means that they also have a decisive weight at the level of international decisions. And certainly considerably greater than that of the countries that have so far decided the fate of the planet. Perhaps it is for this reason that, in recent times, many developed countries have tried to reduce the powers (if not de jure, at least de facto) of the United Nations.
To understand the importance of the G77 just think that it is easier to say who is not part of it than the opposite. The G77 does not include the Western countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), those of the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia, and those of the British Commonwealth. All the others are part of the G77. China, although not an official member of the group, has always been an active part of decisions and resolutions. It is no coincidence that the title of the last meeting which took place in September was “G77 + China. Current development challenges: the role of science, technology and innovation”.
Meetings that have always produced surprisingly concrete results and focused on the real problems of the planet. At the end of the latest summit, participants said they were concerned that “the major challenges generated by the current unjust international economic order for developing countries have reached their most acute expression.” A concern shared by the latest UNCTAD report on trade and development which warned that the global economy is stalling, with growth slowing in most regions compared to last year and with only a few countries bucking the trend.
While the G7 countries continue to fill the front pages of newspapers with news about Ukraine and migrants, the G77 members talk about global problems: according to the participants of the latest meeting, “the global economy is at a crossroads, where Divergent growth paths, widening inequality, growing market concentration and rising debt burdens cast shadows over the future.” Among the consequences of this state of affairs is the impossibility of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 due to a lethal combination of rising interest rates, weakening currencies and slowing export growth which makes it impossible for many governments take effective measures to fight climate change and reduce levels of hunger and poverty. Tightening monetary policy has “contributed little to lower prices and has come at a high cost in terms of inequality and damaged investment prospects. Meanwhile, the cost of living and insufficient wage growth continue to squeeze family budgets everywhere,” say UNCTAD experts.
Developing countries are the ones most affected. Also due to monetary tightening in advanced economies. A growing gap in wealth levels could undermine economic recovery and the aspirations of many countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Gini index has been rising for years, but the great economists of developed countries pretend not to see it and not to know what the consequences of this change could be.
The judgment on the behavior of developed countries towards them is also harsh. “Unilateral sanctions against developing countries not only undermine the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and international law, but constitute a serious obstacle to the advancement of science, technology and innovation, and to the full realization of development economic and social”. For this reason, the G77 countries and China could soon ask for its elimination.
The most interesting thing to emerge from the September meetings is that the G77 countries seem to have understood their power. The final declaration proposed “a reform of the global financial architecture” and to adopt “a more inclusive and coordinated approach to global financial governance with greater emphasis on cooperation between countries”. A reform that would confirm the shift of the economic, political and social center of gravity increasingly to the East.
During the meetings, there were also some reflections on the topic of human rights. While developed countries seem to compete over who violates human rights the most (of migrants – think of the controversy over the barriers between the USA and Mexico or migrants in the Mediterranean Sea – or of refugees – think of the treatment reserved for those arriving in United Kingdom), the G77 countries did not fail to point out “the negative and devastating repercussions of coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to development and food”. Among the topics discussed was also the very delicate one of the damage caused by unipolarity. At the G77 the importance of multilateralism was reiterated. A topic on which the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres declared that the “G77 + China” has “always been a supporter of multilateralism”. Guterres said that “the rules for new technologies cannot be written only by the rich and privileged”. With an eye to the international role of the United Nations, Guterres said, however, that there is a risk that a multipolar world could generate clashes. A different way to reach the same conclusion: it may be time to change the way you see the world. “We are getting ever closer to a great fracture – said Guterres – it is time to renew multilateral institutions. This also means reforming the Security Council in line with today’s world.”
The question is who will have to think and write, in black and white, the new way of regulating relations between the countries of the world? According to the numbers, it may not be the G7 countries that shoulder this heavy burden. But those of the G77.
