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The Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations is a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but by November 2013 the organization had since expanded to 134 member countries.
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Ecuador holds the Chairmanship for 2017.
The group was founded on 15 June 1964, by the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries" issued at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The first major meeting was in Algiers in 1967, where the Charter of Algiers was adopted and the basis for permanent institutional structures was begun. There are Chapters of the Group of 77 in Geneva (UN), Rome (FAO), Vienna (UNIDO), Paris (UNESCO), Nairobi (UNEP) and the Group of 24 in Washington, D.C. (International Monetary Fund and World Bank).
Policies
The group has been credited with common stance against apartheid and for supporting global disarmament. It has been supportive of the New International Economic Order. It has however been subject to criticism for its lackluster support, or outright opposition, to pro-environmental initiatives, which the group considers secondary to economic development and poverty-eradication initiatives.
Members
As of 2015, the group comprises all of UN members (along with the Palestinian Authority) – excluding the following:
- All members of the Council of Europe (but with the exception of Bosnia Herzegovina);
- All members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (but with the exception of Chile);
- All members of the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area (but with the exception of Tajikistan);
- Two Pacific microstates: Palau and Tuvalu.
On the map, members as of 2013 are shown in green.
Member nations are listed below. The years in parenthesis represent the year/s a country has presided. Countries listed in bold are also members of the G-24. See the official list of G-77 members.
Former members
- New Zealand signed the original "Joint Declaration of the Developing Countries" in October 1963, but pulled out of the group before the formation of the G77 in 1964 (it joined the OECD in 1973).
- Mexico was a founding member, but left the Group after joining the OECD in 1994. It had presided over the group in 1973–1974, 1983–1984; however, it is still a member of G-24.
- South Korea was a founding member, but left the Group after joining the OECD in 1996.
- Yugoslavia was a founding member; by the late 1990s it was still listed on the membership list, but it was noted that it "cannot participate in the activities of G77." It was removed from the list in late 2003. It had presided over the group in 1985–1986. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only part of former Yugoslavia that is currently in G77.
- Cyprus was a founding member, but was no longer listed on the official membership list after its accession to the EU in 2004.
- Malta was admitted to the Group in 1976, but was no longer listed on the official membership list after its accession to the EU in 2004.
- Palau joined the Group in 2002, but withdrew in 2004, having decided that it could best pursue its environmental interests through the Alliance of Small Island States.
- Romania was admitted to the Group in 1976, but was no longer listed on the official membership list after its accession to the EU in 2007.
Group of 77 and China
China has never officially joined the G77 but provides consistent political support (usually in the name of "the Group of 77 and/plus China") and financial donation (since 1994) to the G77.
Group of 24
The Group of 24 (G-24) is a chapter of the G-77 that was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues and to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters.
The Group of 24, which is officially called the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, is not an organ of the International Monetary Fund, but the IMF provides secretariat services for the Group. Its meetings usually take place twice a year, prior to the IMFC and Development Committee meetings, to enable developing country members to discuss agenda items beforehand.
Although membership in the G-24 is strictly limited to 24 countries, any member of the G-77 can join discussions (Mexico is the only G-24 member that is not a G-77 member, when it left the G-77 without resigning its G-24 membership). China has been a "special invitee" since the Gabon meetings of 1981. Naglaa El-Ehwany, Minister of International Cooperation, Egypt, is the current chairman of the G-24.