(KPL/Prensa Latina) The Summit of the Group of 77 and China, convened by Cuba, beginning this Friday, will meet until Saturday, September 16th, and will be focused on the "Current Development Challenges: Role of Science, Technology and Innovation".

The Summit, which will see the participation of over a hundred delegations from the member states of the bloc and functionaries from international organizations, will promote high-level debates on the most pressing political and economic issues for developing nations.

As part of the agenda, attendees are expected to continue the Group’s historical demands, particularly in relation to the new international economic order, the reform of the global financial architecture, the rejection of unilateral coercive measures, concentration of wealth and the weight of the external debt.

According to Cuban ambassador Pedro Luis Pedroso, special representative for the coordination of the presidency of the bloc, the Summit should contribute to enhance the voice of the G77 and China in the current intergovernmental processes within the context of the United Nations, in particular, the Summit of Sustainable Development Goals and the Future Summit, in which circumstances the so-called Digital Global Pact must be developed and agreed upon.

Pedroso assured that the Summit will be the scene in which developing countries will renew their commitment to multilateralism and genuine and disinterested international cooperation as an essential foundation of relations between States.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez recently informed the press that the draft final declaration of the event is loyal to the purposes and principles of the Group, attentive to the needs of developing countries and firmly attached to the claim of the right to development in the midst of an order increasingly exclusive and unfair. He also announced that it also proposes declaring an international day of science, technology and innovation in the South.

According to the program, the event will consist of an opening session, and will be followed by a general or plenary debate in which the heads of State and Government, representatives of delegations and officials of international organizations will participate.

KPL