The group of 77 at fifty.

• Author: Ahmia, Mourad

When it was established on 15 June 1964, the signing nations of the well-known "Joint Declaration of Seventy-Seven Countries" formed the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the United Nations to articulate and promote their collective interest and common development agenda.

Since the First Ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 (G-77) held in Algeria in October 1967, and the adoption of the "Charter of Algiers", the G-77 has laid down the institutional mechanisms and structures that have contributed to shaping the international development agenda and changing the landscape of the global South for the past five decades.

Over the years, the Group has gained an increasing role in the determination and conduct of international relations through global negotiations on major North-South and development issues. The Group has a presence worldwide at United Nations centres in New York, Geneva, Nairobi, Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Washington D.C., and is actively involved in ongoing negotiations on a wide range of issues including climate change, poverty eradication, migration, trade, and the law of the sea.

Today, the G-77 remains the only viable and operational mechanism in multilateral economic diplomacy within the United Nations system. The growing membership is proof of its enduring strength. From 77 founding member states in 1964 to 133 and counting in 2014, it is the largest intergovernmental organization of the global South dealing with the Development Agenda.

The Group was created with the objective to collectively boost the role and influence of developing countries on the global stage when it became clear that political independence, to be meaningful, required changes in the economic relations between North and South. Thus, political independence needed to be accompanied by economic diplomacy with the ultimate objective of the reform of the international economic order.

Today, the G-77 represents the greatest coalition of humanity and remains a vital negotiating instrument in economic multilateral diplomacy, and for ensuring international peace and justice through international cooperation for development within the framework of the United Nations. This has been the thrust of the joint expression of South-South solidarity since the Group's creation, and its collective voice has spread to every institution and international organization representing the hopes and aspirations of the majority of humanity.

The...