In this year, many global level summits were held. The mainstream media gave prominence to the summits of developed countries. The summits convened to discuss the problems of the developing nations went unnoticed. The blackout of all news of summits, discussing the problems of the Global South, proved that the global media was mainly dominated by the corporate groups who were least interested in the problems of the poor.
On Sept. 15-16, 2023, Group of 77 nations plus China was held in Havana, Cuba.It was attended by more than 100 countries including Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Even though 31 heads of state and 12 Vice-Presidents represented their countries in the meeting, the deliberations were given least coverage in the major news media.
The G-77 grouping was established in 1964, consisting of 134 developing countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Its declared mission was to “work for a new international order.” It is the largest representative forum, after the UN.
The US-led West has all along been obstructing the development space of developing countries, resulting in increased geopolitical conflicts. In this global context, the Havana meeting of G-77 addressed many core issues that the South countries are facing. The theme for the Summit was “Current Development Challenges: Role of Science, Technology and Innovation.” The discussions were centered around the various aspects of the new international economic order, reforming of the global financial architecture, opposing unilateral coercive measures of the elite countries, concentration of wealth and the enormities of the external debt burden.
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres aptly called the G-77 Summit as “the voice of the Global South” and stressed the crucial role of G-77 in promoting reforms in the institutions including the international financial architectures and for the mobilization of resources in support of the Global South in the UN. He insisted on reforms in the existing institutions and noted that “we have institutions that were created after World War II. Many of the countries present here did not exist at that time and did not have a voice .” So, the old practices favoring mainly developed nations, must be changed.
Africa’s payment of debt service was more than their education and health budgets. The main reason for this pathetic situation was that the loans from the financial institutions like IMF and the World Bank were dispersed with many conditions, impoverishing the concerned countries.
External borrowings of low and middle-income countries in East Asia, the Pacific and South Asia regions had increased to $1.23 trillion in 2020. It was almost equal to their entire export earnings.They paid $115 billion in debt service to international financial institutions and private lenders. This huge spending on debt servicing was one of the reasons for lasting economic slowdown in Asian countries. The most urgent task was reforming of global financial systems in favor of the poor nations.
The joint statement by the G-77 put forth many demands to save the livelihood of the people living in developing, poor countries, while raising serious complaints against developed nations.
The statement said: “We note with deep concern that the major challenges generated by the current unfair international economic order for developing countries have reached their most acute expression in current times.” The positive outcomes of the Group of 77 meeting was further commitment for joint response to challenges, greater solidarity and closer cooperation among the participants.
The annual summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 22–24, 2023, was another important event in this period. From its inception in 2009, BRICS was striving for cooperation between individual countries in the Global South, multilateralism and a more representative and fairer international world order.
One of the decisions of the Johannesburg summit was the agreement to admit six new member countries: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.They would officially join the group in January 2024.40 countries have expressed their willingness to join BRICS, and 22 countries have sent formal applications.BRICS have now became a major bloc of over 47% of the world population and 36% of the total world GDP.
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, BRICS called for “relevant proposals of mediation and good offices aimed at peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy”. This declaration was also signed by Russia.
The BRICS declaration condemned the US for its use of sanctions, imposed on more than 36 countries, as a weapon against those countries that questioned the US hegemony. The declaration pointed out that the sanctions imposed by the US on countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, etc., have crippled their economies.
The Declaration stated clearly that “… the use of unilateral coercive measures, which are incompatible with the principles of the Charter of the UN, produce negative effects notably in the developing world.”
BRICS members expressed dissatisfaction over the current trade restrictive measures which are inconsistent with WTO rules that affect agricultural trade.
The BRICS countries discussed alternative options for trade, replacing the use of dollar, which had been used as a weapon to coerce countries to follow the dictates of the US-led West.The options such as trade in national currencies are all under trial as alternatives.
The G20 summit was held in New Delhi, India, on Sept. 9–10, 2023. The G20 members are the EU plus 19 nations, including the UK and the US. Since the US assumed a key role in this group, the deliberations of the summit reflected the interests of the developed countries. The G7 Summit of global big powers, held in Hiroshima, Japan, in May 2023 had also been the strong voice of the elite nations.
From the standpoint of global toiling people, the blocs and groupings that safeguard the development-oriented economies of the poor nations must be strengthened.
N. Gunasekaran is a political activist and writer based in Chennai, India.
From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2023
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