BUJUMBURA September 20th (ABP) – The President of the Republic of Burundi, Mr. Evariste Ndayishimiye participated in the summit of the Group of 77 + China, which was held in Havana, the capital of Cuba, from September 15 to 16, 2023 Since January 2023, Cuba has held the presidency of the Group of 77 + China.
Organized under the theme: “Development challenges: Role of science, technology and innovation”, the summit saw the participation of the Secretary General of the United Nations, 134 member countries and 12 UN agencies.
According to the official website of the Presidency of the Republic of Burundi, during his speech to the podium during this summit, President Ndayishimiye appealed for the unity and solidarity of the members of the G77 + China in order to improve their role and international action on the one hand, and meeting the challenges that block their path to their socio-economic development, on the other hand.
The increase in poverty, the growing weight of external debt, food and energy insecurity, disasters linked to climate change, as well as tensions and conflicts, are the main challenges of the moment, which President Ndayishimiye has brought to the attention of the G77. Those challenges constitute, for the Burundian president, a significant obstacle to development and the full enjoyment of the sovereignty of the countries.
To face that, Mr. Ndayishimiye launched an appeal to the Group of 77 + China to “generate a collective, unwavering and essential force to face the aforementioned challenges without evasion and bring positive results”. By calling for the promotion of the ethics of South-South cooperation for the promotion of the economic interests of those countries, according to the publication of the official website of the Presidency of the Republic of Burundi, the President of the Republic, having committed to being an essential partner in order to meet these challenges and contribute to the restoration of a fairer and more equitable world economic order.
According to the official website of the presidency, during a joint declaration at the close of the work of this summit, the heads of state and government of the Group of 77 + China underlined the urgent need to “fundamentally reform the international financial architecture and to approach global financial governance with a more inclusive and coordinated approach. The approach focusing more on the representation of developing countries in global decision-making bodies and the development of political measures in order to contribute to strengthening the capacities of developing countries to access science and technology and innovation.
The Group of 77 + China often referred to as the “Global South”, at the United Nations, is a coalition of developing countries promoting their collective economic and political interests. The coalition was also created to increase their negotiating capacity at the United Nations. Currently, the coalition has 134 member countries but continues to be called the Group of 77, the number of founding states.