Group of 77's role key to Millennium Declaration review - Annan

The "Group of 77" coalition of developing countries will have a key role to play in galvanizing global action to reach the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

Addressing the Group's annual meeting of Foreign Ministers at UN Headquarters in New York, he said next year would be a significant test of resolve as the General Assembly holds its first comprehensive review of the 2000 Millennium Declaration, which contained a set of eight time-bound goals to combat such global problems as extreme poverty and hunger, educational inequity and HIV/AIDS, all by 2015.

"Your engagement in the review process is essential," he said, "to achieve a mobilization in the broadest sense, and to ensure the most effective follow-up possible."

The Secretary-General stressed that the just-opened session of the General Assembly offered important opportunities to address a host of issues of concern to the Group, such as alternative sources of financing for development and the UN's credibility in providing effective and long-term responses to complex crises.

"There have been promising efforts in the right direction," he told the coalition, which now boasts 132 members and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. "These are all issues that we need to address together if we are to make the Millennium Declaration a reality."

The Group of 77, which derives its name from the original number of countries that signed a declaration on 15 June 1964 at the end of the first session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, also elected Jamaica as its chair for next year, replacing Qatar.