The document, which is expected to be approved on the second day of the meeting, scheduled for September 15-16 at the Havana’s International Conference Center, is “progressive and universal in scope, with a positive and constructive tone,” the head of Cuban diplomacy pointed out.

At the same time, the declaration is loyal to the purposes and principles of the group, attentive to the needs of the developing countries and firmly attached to the claim of the right to development amid an increasingly exclusive, inequitable, unjust and plundering international order, Rodríguez stressed.

At a news conference on Wednesday at the press room of the Summit event, at which 500 national and foreign journalists have been accredited, Rodríguez pointed out that the Declaration was conceived through a broad, participatory, harmonious and constructive negotiation process.

According to Rodríguez, the text contains 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 demanding a profound reform of the world’s financial architecture.

Likewise, it advocates for the adequate treatment of the growing foreign debt, for compliance with international commitments regarding official development aid, which are a moral obligation of the industrialized countries, and for financing the fight against climate change.

These and other issues are part of historic and new demands from the Southern countries, said the Cuban Foreign Minister, who added that the document also contains several proposals for action, such as holding periodic meetings of high authorities in matters of science, technology and innovation.

The long-awaited final declaration of the Summit calls for strengthening South-South cooperation in these areas, requests holding a high-level meeting on the subject within the United Nations and proposes declaring an international day of science, technology and innovation in the South.

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