G77 / CHINA

G77 on the web: http://www.g77.org/

"With apologies for the oversimplification, their position seems to boil down to: ‘no more money, no more technology = no deal’. This position is understandable, especially since the deals made in the past have not been lived up to, mostly due to lack of political will in the North." (Pieter van der Gaag, ANPED)

The informal affiliation of developing countries known as G77/China applies a skeptical approach towards environmental language and suggestions concerning public access to information. It lobbies for stronger financial commitments by industrialised countries, and opposes moves by the U.S. to shift responsibilities for sustainable development to national governments. NGOs criticise that G77/ China are still neglecting the genuine relationship between environmental protection and development.

For G77/China, the conclusions to be drawn from the Financing for Development conference in Mexico, where the future of development aid has been discussed, will play a major role on how they will position themselves. Only if the industrialised countries show themselves willing, within the framework of this conference, to commit additional funds for sustainable development, will they be ready to discuss environment issues.Developing countries aim for an increase in international financial support, and stress the responsibility of industrialized countries in assisting developing countries to overcome the burden of poverty and to develop their economies in a sustainable way. However, the United States, and to a lesser degree Europe and Japan want to focus on the development opportunities that present themselves as a result of economic growth, the development of new technologies and the mobilisation of capital.

At PrepComm IV, it became clear that countries will seize the opportunity of the World Summit to ensure that commitments on finance, trade and capacity building exist, are meaningful and are action-oriented. Key to meeting the developing countries’ demands will be the transformation of the Monterrey Consensus into an action agenda, and the delivery of political commitments set out in the Doha Declaration of the WTO. Consequently, G77/China continued its efforts to re-negotiate the outcome of the Doha WTO Ministerial as well as the results of the Financing for Development Conference in Monterrey. At the same time, the developing countries fear that the so-called Type II outcomes, voluntary partnerships involving governments, business and civil society, may become a vehicle for governments of developed countries to circumvene true commitment on implementation issues.

Just a few weeks before the summit, some key G77 countries seem to feel that they are in a weak bargaining position. Corporate accountability is one issue that seems to have significant traction with G77 countries, especially in the current context of corporate scandals. G77 countries are also very interested in addressing debt issues and getting NGO support on that front.