ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday assumed the chairmanship of the Group of 77 (G77), the largest bloc of developing countries at the United Nations.
G77 was founded in 1964 to provide a platform to the Global South to promote their collective economic interests at the UN and maintain their independence and sovereignty. The group’s name is derived from its 77 founding members, but it has since expanded to 134 states.
Pakistan is one of the founding members of the group and has served as its chair in New York three times. It was elected chair of G77 again in December.
“Pakistan looks forward to working with all members to develop an effective & concerted action to respond to the multiple challenges confronting our countries,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Twitter after taking over the group’s chairmanship from the Republic of Guinea.
Pakistan looks forward to working with all members to develop an effective & concerted action to respond to the multiple challenges confronting our countries. Mutual support, solidarity and unity will be our guiding principles as we endeavour to build a better tomorrow, together. https://t.co/u7Rk2PrWkw
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) January 14, 2022
Among the issues currently faced by developing countries, Qureshi highlighted the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had disproportionately affected developing countries, and the economic downturn resulting from it.
“The Foreign Minister noted that, as the G-77 Chair, Pakistan will work with all the member states to develop effective and concerted response to the multiple challenges confronting developing countries and also promote avenues for South-South Cooperation,” the foreign office said in a statement.
Qureshi called for debt restructuring and the fulfilment of the UN’s official development assistance (ODA) target. The UN has a target for Development Assistance Committee countries to spend 0.7 percent of their gross national income on ODA. Only a few of the committee’s 24 members have met the target since it was established in 1968.
The minister also highlighted the need to redistribute the International Monetary Fund’s $650 billion worth of special drawing rights (SDR) — a tool to help low- and middle-income countries in liquidity. In August, the IMF allocated the SDRs, with only $21 billion going to dozens of countries classified as low-income — far below the needs of economies slowed by the pandemic and struggling under heavy debt burdens.
With climate change posing another crisis affecting developing countries, the foreign office said Qureshi called for the implementation of the UN principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, which acknowledges that developed countries had contributed more to environmental degradation and should have greater responsibility for climate change mitigation than developing countries.
“The Foreign Minister emphasized that the major onus for mitigation must be assumed by the industrialized countries and all climate actions must adhere to the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility.”