Developing countries urge unity, cooperation to champion multilateralism ahead of UN annual debate

 Ahead of the United Nations (UN) general debate next week, developing countries at the Summit of the Group of 77 (G77) and China urged strengthening solidarity and cooperation to champion multilateralism.

In the face of some countries' practices such as unilateral sanctions, decoupling, and disruptions of industrial and supply chains, developing countries widely expect to enhance solidarity and cooperation and make efforts to make global governance more just and equitable.

At the conclusion of the two-day summit in the Cuban capital of Havana on Saturday, a Final Declaration was approved that reaffirmed "the commitment to strengthen the unity and solidarity of the Group in order to achieve its objectives and to reinforce its role in the current international context."

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, whose country has been suffering from huge economic and humanitarian damage from a more than six-decade-long U.S. embargo, said cooperation, solidarity, and human progress without exclusions are vital to helping tackle today's world challenges.

"The world is failing developing countries," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday in his address to the summit, stressing the need for strong, effective multilateral institutions as the international community is embracing a multipolar world.

Terming the G77 "a champion of multilateralism," Guterres called on the G77 and China to "champion a system rooted in equality; champion a system ready to reverse the injustice and neglect of centuries; and champion a system that delivers for all humanity and not for the privileged."

As the world is changing on a scale not seen in a century while unilateralism and hegemonism are on the rise, South-South cooperation is becoming increasingly vital.

China, the world's largest developing nation and a natural member of the Global South, is "ready to work with Cuba and other G77 members to open a new chapter in South-South cooperation in quest for greater development through stronger solidarity, build a Global South community with a shared future, and usher in a new era of common development," said Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the summit.

China is growing closer to Asian, African, and Latin American countries "not to impose sanctions, but to contribute to progress and the wellbeing of all," Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said, calling China a partner "with the will to help and express its solidarity."

Unlike other global powers, the relationship between China and the G77 is based on respect for self-determination, solidarity, and cooperation, said Eduardo Regalado, a senior researcher at the International Policy Research Center of Cuba.

"China has been very active in promoting a fairer economic and political order in keeping with the interests of developing countries. It has maintained a systematic and consistent policy supporting the multilateral bloc," he added.

This is not the first time that solidarity and cooperation have been emphasized by the Global South recently.

During the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, last month, more than 60 developing countries sent a clear message of solidarity and cooperation to the world, calling for a reform of global governance to make it more just and equitable.

First established in 1964, the G77 now has over 130 members, with its chairmanship rotating among member countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America based on regional principles.

Being the largest multilateral coordination organization among developing countries, the G77's member states account for more than 80 percent of the world's population and over two-thirds of UN member countries.