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The Group of 77 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 the organization has since expanded to 130 member countries. The group is chaired and directed in 2009 by the government of Sudan.

The group was founded on June 15, 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 Rome (FAO), Vienna (UNIDO), Paris (UNESCO), Nairobi (UNEP) and the Group of 24 in Washington, D.C. (IMF and World Bank).

[edit] Members

On the map, founding members are shown in dark green, and listed below (except those that have since left). Members as of March 2008 are shown in dark and medium green. Former members are shown in light green. The years in parenthesis represent the year/s a country has presided. See the official list of members. (Among all of them, members of the G-24 chapter, presented below, are also listed in bold.)

Group of 77 countries

[edit] Current founding members

[edit] Other current members

[edit] Former members

Presiding countries of the G-77 since 1970. Colors show the number of times a country has held the position. Gray = never; yellow = once; orange = twice; red = thrice.

1.  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 G-77 in 1964 (it joined the OECD in 1973).
2.  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.
3.  South Korea was a founding member, but left the Group after joining the OECD in 1996.
4.  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 G-77." It was removed from the list in late 2003.^{[citation needed]} It had presided over the group in 1985–1986. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only part of former Yugoslavia that is currently in G-77.
5.  Cyprus was a founding member, but was no longer listed on the official membership list after its accession to the EU in 2004.
6.  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.
7.  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.
8.  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.

[edit] Group of 24

G-24 countries.     Member nations     Observer nations

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 IMF, 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. Miguel Gustavo Peirano, Argentine Minister of Economy, is the current chairman of the G-24.

[edit] See also

• Non-Aligned Movement
• Third World
• South-South Cooperation

[edit] External links

• Group of 77 official website
• Adam Sneyd, "Group of 77", in Globalization and Autonomy Online Compendium, edited by William D. Coleman and Nancy Johnson
• Group of 24 Official site