The need for reform of the United Nations (UN) was a consensus among the countries of the G-77, the group of developing nations whose representatives have been meeting in Doha, Qatar, since last Sunday, for the Second South Summit.
The conclusion was presented to journalists yesterday by the president of the G-77, the minister of Foreign Relations of Jamaica, Delano Franklyn, after discussions that took place at the meeting.
Diplomatic representatives of the 132 countries that are part of the G-77 are discussing the action plan to be put in practice at the meeting and also the final declaration to be issued.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the heads of state of the nations that are members of the group will meet in Doha. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will not be present. He should be represented by a Brazilian diplomat.
According to the director general of the Economic Department at the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), Piragibe Tarragô, the efforts of the countries of the G-77 are for the reform of the UN not to be postponed and to take place at the next general assembly, scheduled for September, in New York.
According to Tarragô, the reform may bring changes to international economic cooperation, which would benefit developing countries.
Apart from the modifications in the UN Security Council, which are requested by developing countries like Brazil, another plea is for international finance organizations like the World Bank and the IMF to listen more and take into consideration the needs of the poorer nations.
This change could bring advantages to the countries when they are going to negotiate their finances with these institutions.
Among the documents being formulated at the meeting are from mechanisms to fight poverty and diseases like AIDS to an economic comparison between the countries of the South and systems for improvement of economic relations with the countries of the North, as the richer nations are called.
The importance of the Global System of Trade Preferences Among Developing Countries (GSTP) will also be included in the action plan for the meeting, according to Tarragô.
The director general stated that, at the meeting, developing countries are being called to integrate the GSTP, a system that reduces export tariffs for developing nations. The program already exists, but there are few countries participating in it, around 46.
The intention is for expansion in the number of members, products and tariff reductions. The discussion was released during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), which took place in São Paulo in the middle of last year.
The document formulated by the countries also states that agricultural subsidies practiced by rich nations are a problem that must be solved as soon as possible.
This discussion, however, is in the hands of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and not the UN, the organization to which the G-77 is connected.
ANBA – Brazil-Arab News Agency – www.anba.com.br