Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – The G-77, a group whose objective is articulation and promotion of the economic interests of developing countries is going to meet on June 11 and 12 in the city of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, before the beginning of the 11th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), to be organized between June 13 and 18.
During the meeting of the group, which currently includes 114 countries (having grown from the original 77), a new round of negotiations in the Global System of Trade Preferences Among Developing Countries (GSTP) should begin. The instrument was created by the Unctad to sponsor and exchange tariff concessions between developing countries.
According to Awni Behnam, senior advisor to Unctad secretary general Rubens Ricupero, UN secretary general Kofi Annan should close the G-77 meeting. This meeting will include commemoration of the 40 years since the creation of the group, which was founded during the first Unctad, in 1964.
During a briefing on Wednesday (03), at São Paulo city hall, Behnam stated that two main topics to be discussed during the Unctad should be the new "world trade geography," as put by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and South-South cooperation (between developing countries).
According to him, greater cooperation will make developing countries more prepared for negotiations with the richer nations, once developed countries need emerging markets, which in turn need technology and investment.
"This cooperation may be good for everyone, not only for the developing countries," stated Behnam, who will be the Unctad spokesperson.
