With his defense multilateralism and call for reduction Asymmetries between North and South The summit of G77+China countries ended this Saturday in Havana. The meeting started on Friday with the participation of representatives from 100 countries, including government and state officials, foreign ministers and delegates from international organizations. Its aim on this occasion was to create a common attitude on the issues where the gap between developed and developing countries is most clearly evident: technology, the role of science and innovation. But their relationships with each other environmental challenges.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva thought the G77’s demands should be strengthened “in light of the fourth industrial revolution” It revolves around developments in the fields of artificial intelligence and biotechnology. “We cannot be divided. We must create a common vision that takes into account the concerns of low- and middle-income countries and other vulnerable groups.” Lula called on the forum, which brings together two-thirds of the countries that make up the United Nations, to take joint action on the energy transition and the digital revolution”a handful of rich economies. In his view, this is shared by many speakers, such as South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, maintaining a “relationship of dependency between the center and the periphery”.
At the opening of the summit in Cuba, the UN Secretary-General said: Antonio GuterresHe called for the creation of a more just order and even thought that developing countries were “failing.”
The Brazilian president returned to this criterion and expressed it with new global challenges. He emphasized the following in this regard: “The climate emergency places new obligations on us” but it also offers opportunities. “We will promote sustainable industrialization, investment in renewable energy, socio-bio-economy and low-carbon agriculture.” He emphasized that this task should be fulfilled “without forgetting that we do not have the same historical debt as the rich countries regarding global warming.” In this sense, Lula repeated an idea heard from the mouths of many European leaders at the meeting between the EU and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) in Brussels in mid-July: “climate finance is guaranteed to all developing countries, depending on their needs and priorities According to Lula, the most powerful nations must fulfill their commitments between the UN Climate Change Summit (COP) in Dubai and COP-30 in Belém within five years.
Since the beginning of his third government, at the beginning of the year, Lula has sought to maintain the international leadership he enjoyed between 2003 and 2010. In 1964, a group of 77 or so countries was created, which now totals 134 countries. As an external actor, China offers itself a platform suitable for its ambitions. “Global governance remains asymmetric. UN“The Bretton Woods system and the WTO are losing credibility.”. With the same emphasis, he demanded an end to US economic sanctions against Cuba.
Global Marshall Plan
Colombia’s Gustavo Petro was even bolder when he asked the developed world to develop some sort of global Marshall Plan to confront the climate crisis, referring to the program funded by the United States to aid Europe after World War II. If we do not act accordingly, the world will become “very violent” and the migration of people affected by environmental disasters could reach 3 billion. “What will the world be like when the lands of the major cities of our countries become uninhabitable? What will politics be like? What will society be like? Will it be democracy or barbarism?“. He also advocated “a universal negotiation for the change of a new global financial system.” Both aspects are intertwined.
According to Petro, the US and Europe are simply proposing that developing countries take on more debt, and “many members of the G77 are passively accepting this path.” He added: “If we don’t address debt reduction, The only way to finance a worldwide decarbonized economy is through equity and debt. In other words, it is the reproduction and deepening of world domination relations.”
In return, Colombia’s president proposed granting Universal Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to debtor countries to ease their burdens. “I think this proposal, which has been approved in some previous meetings, such as in South America, Africa, Paris, should be considered by the G77, because we do not lose there, we win.”
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, secretary general of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), echoed the same ideas. “Humanity is facing the challenge of climate change: it is up to us to take action, seize opportunities and maximize the benefits of emerging technologies to increase the resilience of our countries and our economies and reduce negative impacts.”