Cuba ready to host G77 and China Summit |13 September 2023

The Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Group of 77 developing countries (G77) and China will be held on September 15 and 16 at the Havana Convention Palace.

Convened by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, the Summit will be held under the theme ‘Current Development Challenges: Role of Science, Technology and Innovation’.

In total, more than a hundred international delegations are expected to come to Havana, with the participation of more than 30 heads of state and UN secretary-general António Guterres.

The G77 and China, which emerged in June 1964, is the largest and most diverse concertation group in the multilateral sphere, with 134 member states.

After more than 50 years of existence, the G77 has managed to remain united with multilateralism as the guiding principle of South-South cooperation strategies, despite the marked cultural, geographic and economic differences and national realities of its members.

Although Cuba had never before presided over the Group, it has held the presidency of different Chapters: Geneva 2001 and 2010, Nairobi in 2005, Rome 1987 and 2001, with results recognised worldwide.

Cuba assumed the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Group in January 2023, which was the first occasion in which the Caribbean island leads this negotiating bloc of developing countries and assumed the important commitment to consolidate the unity, presence and influence of the G77 and China in the multiple and relevant multilateral processes to be held in 2023.

During this time, Cuba has conducted its work as President Pro Tempore in a flexible and constructive way, based on the largest consensus, to put into practice the transformative vision advocated by the Group of 77 + China.

The Cuban Presidency of the G77 and China hopes that the Summit will contribute to strengthen the voice of the Group in the current international situation and in the face of the relevant intergovernmental negotiation processes.

The agenda of the Summit will allow the heads of state and/or government to express a vision of the State in relation to current problems. The adoption of a Political Declaration, also focused on practical actions, is expected. As is usual for the G77 and China, this text will be the result of a broad, transparent and inclusive intergovernmental negotiation process.

The event will be of great importance in the efforts to advance towards a unified South-South approach to the major challenges facing our nations in the international sphere. It will be a fundamental space for concertation in the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals Summit to be held in September of this year and the Summit of the Future to be held in 2024.

The Havana Summit will pave the way for the Presidency of Uganda, a sister country with which Cuba has worked in very close coordination with a view to the transferring of the Presidency of the G77 and China and the success of the successive and very significant Summits of the Non-Aligned Movement and the G77 and China.

Press release from the embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Seychelles