By: Alina Perera Robbio
Someone can remind us of the well-known truth that to understand the present and the future, it is necessary to delve into history and we may not be paying the attention it deserves. On the other hand, when it’s endorsed by a very veteran diplomat like Abelardo Moreno Fernández – when it comes to addressing the importance of the Cuban presidency of the Group of 77 plus China – the words take on a new and attractive meaning.
Photo: Revolution Studios
“Let’s talk a little about the history of the group,” suggests this interlocutor, who, as he told us, “had the enormous honor of compañero Ricardo Alarcón” de Quesada – then the island’s ambassador to the United Nations Organization – to accompany “one of the first two Cubans to attend a meeting of the Group of 77”.
This group – Abelardo explained to the press team of the Cuban Presidency, referring to the subject we were dealing with – is the largest group that exists within the framework of multilateral relations. That was the beginning of a statement in impeccable Spanish, that of the voice of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, a representative of the Caribbean country before the United Nations Organization, a born negotiator, the Cuban Vice Chancellor, who could not be weaker by far. He has been for some Time in office and now Advisor to the Secretary of State.
Before we delve into the matter, it is worth remembering that Abelardo Moreno began working at the State Department in July 1961, when he was only 16 years old. The premiere coincided with Yuri Gagarin’s visit to Cuba, and his first task, from a protocol point of view, was to take care of the cosmonaut. It has been raining a lot and the diplomatic expert has a lot to tell.
The beginnings
“This group took shape, although it was still in its infancy, when the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in December 1961 establishing the so-called United Nations Development Decade,” the expert explained.
“This started – he added – the UN Secretary-General’s consultations with a number of countries to see what could be done to promote the United Nations Decade of Development.”
The resolutions adopted as a result of the consultations “illuminated the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development”; and out of this came a preparatory committee, “in which seventy-five underdeveloped countries then engaged in the work of the United Nations began to act together.” And that was the cornerstone of what would later become the Group of 77.”
At the end of this United Nations Trade and Development Conference, Abelardo Moreno explained, “the 75 people – who were no longer seventy-five but now 77 years old – wrote a communiqué that tried to define what the group was and what she was.” His motivation.”
The group pledged to maintain, promote and strengthen unity as we look to the future, according to the statement. And to this end, he indicated that he would use all possible means to intensify contacts and consultations between members.
Two words – common and shared – will set the tone in the story of the Group of 77. The Advisor to the Secretary of State has asked us to pay attention to this edge. And then he came back to the communiqué to which he had referred, which specifically stated that the specific arrangements for contacts and consultations of government officials should be examined during the nineteenth session of the General Assembly in Havana.
All countries have one thing in common, and this statement confirms that they were all dependent and non-interdependent nations in relation to the developed world. Because of its importance, Abelardo underlined one of the thoughts of the text: “Each of our economies has developed as a by-product and by-product of development in the industrialized North and is outward-looking.” We are not the main drivers of our own destiny. We are ashamed to admit it, but economically we are dependencies, semi-colonies at best, not independent states.
The horizon was then drawn as the need to complete the liberation of Third World countries from foreign domination: “Look how important this declaration is,” Abelardo Moreno Fernández told us, in which they already present testimonies about it what it is. We are what the world once was: we are dependent, we are semi-colonies, and that will guide the actions of the Group of 77 in the early years of its existence.”
In 1964, as part of the Non-Aligned Movement and at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Group of 77 was formed. It initially consisted of 77 developing countries. Although the name of the intergovernmental mechanism was retained, over time it grew to what is now 134 nations, representing Latin America, Africa and South Asia. In 1992, China joined, a country that participates and cooperates externally.
Letter from Algiers
According to Abelardo Moreno, the most outstanding political action of the group in its founding moments was “the approval of the document known as the Algiers Charter, approved by the Group of 77 in October 1967. The intention of this first statement was to define the group’s program of action.
That letter stated that the program of action “consisted of giving new impetus to the North-South negotiations”. But look, this is important: always, within the prevailing system. There was no question of changing this system of protected states and dependent states.”
“A few years later, in the early 1970s, certain events happened, certain developments that led to a change in the attitude of this group. The decolonization process was already advanced; the political independence of a significant number of new states had been consolidated. All international and regional development efforts have failed and been disappointing; and within the group of 77, doubts about the maintenance of the dominant development model began to be expressed.”
The diplomatic expert noted that “group members became increasingly aware that the institutions of the then dominant economic system had been created by the developed capitalist countries to serve their own interests and, therefore, to satisfy the needs and special conditions of the underdeveloped countries.” totally ignored and left in a situation of poverty and dependency; Therefore, they began to see that it was necessary to make fundamental changes in the international economic system, to create a favorable framework for development and to lay the foundation for real economic independence.”
The establishment of a new international economic order “after being proposed by the Non-Aligned Movement became the main objective of the Group of 77 at the time.”
limitations and challenges
Despite the will expressed in the adoption of the declaration and also the program of action to establish the new international economic order, as Abelardo Moreno noted, there are and have been for many years great limitations and very serious challenges.
Nothing is easy for the largest group of states on the planet, for this “unequal and diverse group where different ideologies and different visions of the world come together”, as the Cuban diplomat described it.
The nature of the intergovernmental mechanism “has contributed to the fact that, in recent decades, the group has found it difficult to reach agreements on the most pressing issues and has based its decisions on the minimum; that is, the minimum that can be achieved, rather than the true resolution of the central and fundamental problems affecting its members.”
“There are several factors that have influenced this situation. Historically, attempts to develop a genuine North-South dialogue have been proven to have failed.” to develop a North-South dialogue that would solve specific problems.”
In his opinion, this was because the northern country wanted all decisions to be made first through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and also based on the recommendations of those organizations that formed and constituted a financial architecture that caters to the interests of the western world.
“This lack of progress in North-South dialogue caused the Group of 77 to begin to focus more and more on South-South cooperation, which the industrialized countries of the West could not directly neutralize.”
However, South-South cooperation “had encountered very serious obstacles”, according to Abelardo Moreno’s analysis, who referred to three of them as fundamental: first, it was imposed by the United States, the Group of Seven, been suggested, and also by some think tanks of neoliberal thought, “that UNCTAD had to go because it was an instrument in the hands of the Group of 77; and not only that: the United Nations Industrial Development Organization had to disappear.”
“The second element that made it difficult to advance within the framework of cooperation between developing countries was the colonial legacy, which had led to the consolidation of an international division of labor between center and periphery and the resulting technological divide in the international monetary and financial systems. , trade and foreign aid, which benefited the countries of the north”.
A third obstacle, also not insignificant, was the lack of communications infrastructure, financing infrastructure, and money to actually foster other types of business relations at the South-South level. “This situation,” said the expert, “hits the group of 77 very hard.”
There is “another factor that also played an important role in the fact that the Group of 77 did not achieve all the goals it set itself, namely the creation of subdivisions.” Certainly, the diplomat said, “mirror they reflect reality, but in any case they are subdivisions; For example, one group of less developed countries emerged, another group of island countries, another of landlocked countries, another of underdeveloped countries with low coasts, and so the group became fragmented.”
“Obviously there are all these countries and they all have particular problems, that’s true; But the existence of these particular issues makes it very difficult for the group to adopt positions that are important and useful to all and not to a specific group.”
The numerical capacity of the Group of 77 represented a strength, according to Abelardo Moreno: during the 1970s and most of the 1980s – the diplomat stressed – this quality, under the influence of the non-aligned countries, enabled the intergovernmental mechanism to “each enforce decision; Even in the United Nations it was called “steamroller” because in reality the countries of the Group of 77, when they decided to act together, were like a steamroller.”
A very interesting report
“I would like to share with you a very interesting report, already declassified and prepared by the US State Department’s Office of Intelligence and Investigation, which states that developing countries have become a powerful force in the United Nations’ frequent anti-Western positions of the group are a growing concern for U.S. lawmakers.”
According to the international relations expert, the previous analysis prompted the State Department itself to send an instruction to its embassies discussing the existence of ways to prevent the automatic use of majority voting by:
That intermediate positions are taken or seen as just or appropriate.
Working with selected Afro-Asian countries to persuade them that certain positions are of interest to them.
Encouraging recognition that the success of development programs depends on the continued cooperation of donor countries.
“If that’s not a threat,” said Abelardo Moreno, “I want someone to explain to me what a threat is.” These measures have been successful; and it showed that consensus was increasingly becoming the desired formula for economic decision-making within the framework of the United Nations. I confess to you that I have observed this trend.”
Challenges for Cuba as President pro Tempore
The diplomatic expert described as enormous the challenges Cuba had to face in order to assume the presidency of the Group of 77 plus China under the current complex circumstances.
“The Cuban government under President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez had a difficult outlook throughout the year,” Abelardo said, marked by the crisis caused by COVID-19, international armed and socio-political conflicts, and shortages of raw materials and consumer goods, the surge of food prices; And yet it has to work in this unfavorable context for the fulfillment of the 20-30 agenda and sustainable development.”
President Díaz-Canel took over the presidency of the group pro tempore in January 2023.
“Cuba has set very clear goals for the year of his tenure. One of them is very important: promoting solidarity and international cooperation in support of the post-pandemic recovery of developing countries.
Despite this difficult environment, despite these complex conditions, Cuba has managed to make progress and this is recognized by many G77 member countries. This assessment was shared by the expert, who stressed that the Caribbean country was not yet six months into the pro tempore presidency and yet there were some important moments for the group.
Abelardo enumerated those moments, noting that Cuba had participated in the Nonaligned Movement’s Contact Group on Post-Pandemic Recovery; attended the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries; participated in the United Nations conference entitled “Water for Sustainable Development”; and the Sixth Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Development of ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean). He also took part in the Petersburg climate dialogue in Berlin.
Among other Group of 77 activities, the Advisor to the Secretary of State for International Relations referred to the meeting of foreign ministers; the Fifth World Balance Conference in Havana; and other similar meetings.
As for the future, Abelardo Moreno said that on September 15 and 16 this year there will be a summit sponsored by Cuba in its capacity as President of the Group of 77 plus China, “a meeting of the highest scientific level.” , Technology and Innovation; and as you know this is a capital issue in the current situation.”
The distinguished intellectual did not want to end the meeting without first recalling the words of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz in his message to the participants of the Group of 77 ministerial meeting on September 19, 1999 in Havana. :
“The Group of 77,” said Fidel, “needs a common reflection on how to face the new realities in the world, to access development, eradicate poverty, defend cultures and their rightful place in the global to take decision-making that affects them all.”
In another part of his message, the Commander-in-Chief expressed: “We form a group of countries distinguished by diversity in terms of geography, culture and level of economic development. This diversity should not be a weakness but a strength.”
The Cuban diplomat referred to another idea of the historic revolutionary leader: Fidel had expressed that new conflicts and growing inequalities require negotiations in which our ability to concert as a Group of 77 prevails. So he emphasized negotiation-oriented, intelligent, flexible behavior and steadfastness in principles. All of them are essential prerequisites for the realization of a renewed North-South dialogue capable of addressing the immense global challenges facing humanity.
“That’s what Fidel said 23 years ago,” Abelardo Moreno recalls. and ended with a question: “Isn’t it still valid?”
(Taken from presidencia.gob.cu)