Iran assumes G-77 presidency

Iran has been elected as the rotating head of the Group of 77 (G-77) at the United Nations to chair the coalition of developing nations for the first time since 1964.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was chosen during a meeting in Vienna on Wednesday to chair the 133-member group, IRNA reported.

Soltanieh is to replace the Algerian ambassador to the IAEA as the outgoing chairman of the G-77. Iran’s presidency of the Group of 77 will extend for one year.

The group was founded on June 15, 1964 by the “Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries,” which issued at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The group’s first major meeting was held in Algiers in 1967, where the Charter of Algiers was adopted.

There were 77 founding members of the organization, but the organization has since expanded to 131 member states.