G77 summit in Cuba calls for ‘new economic world order’ amid global crises

The Group of 77 plus China, which is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing and emerging countries, has called for a “new economic world order” amid worsening crises across the globe.

The G77+China, a 134-member organization representing 80 percent of the world’s population, launched a summit in the Cuban capital of Havana on Friday and called on the Global South to “change the rules of the game.”

Speaking at the opening of the summit, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel pointed to various global issues, such as the war in Ukraine, the fight against climate change and the world economic system, among many others.

“After all this time that the North has organized the world according to its interests, it is now up to the South to change the rules of the game,” Diaz-Canel said, adding that the developing countries were the main victims of a “multidimensional crisis” in the world from “abusive unequal trade” to global warming.

The Cuban president called for a world that was “more representative and responsive to the needs of developing economies,” underlining that these countries were “trapped in a tangle of global crises.”

Established by 77 countries of the Global South in 1964, the bloc aims “to articulate and promote their collective economic interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity,” according to the group’s website.

The website lists China as one of its 134 members although Beijing says it is not a full member.