Rodríguez pointed out in statements to the press that the event, focused on “Current Development Challenges: Role Of Science, Technology And Innovation”, will foster a high-level, substantial debate, with forceful pronouncements on the most pressing political and economic challenges for developing nations in the midst of the systemic international crisis.
The Summit, to take place in Havana next Friday and Saturday, seeks to debate the main challenges and core issues of the Southern nations, Rodríguez highlighted and who anticipated a widely participatory event, with the attendance of high-level delegations that will be received by the people of Cuba, with the greatest of its hospitality.
He noted that a final declaration will be approved on the last day of the event, the project which was already agreed upon through a negotiation process by the ambassadors of the bloc’s member countries before the Group’s chapter in New York.
Rodriguez commented that the declaration 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 increasingly exclusive and unjust international order. He highlighted that the document was conceived through a broad, participatory, harmonious and constructive negotiation process.
In his words, the declaration makes a general and critical outline of the main obstacles to the development of the nations of the South and calls for the establishment of a new international economic order, while calling for a profound reform of the world’s financial architecture. It also advocates for adequate treatment of the growing external debt, for compliance with international commitments regarding official development aid, which are a moral obligation of industrialized countries, and for financing the fight against climate change.
The declaration also requests holding a high-level meeting on the matter within the UN and proposes declaring an international day of science, technology and innovation in the South.
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