Indonesia to host high-level advisory meeting on the G-77 millennium summit

UNITED NATIONS, June - The Government of Indonesia will be hosting an important South-South meeting in Jakarta, August 10-11.

The high-level advisory meeting is intended to prepare for the proposed South-South summit, in accordance with the decision taken by the ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 in September last year.

With the decline in official development assistance (ODA), rising external debts and a new cash crisis in Southeast Asia, developing nations are seeking to strengthening South-South links and promote increased economic and technical cooperation among themselves.

A South-South summit is being viewed as a turning point in the growing cooperation among the 132 developing nations.

Indonesia will also host a second meeting in Bali from 2 to 4 December 1998. This will be a high level conference on sub-regional and regional economic cooperation.

“We hope that the Group of 77 will be able to draw upon these meetings in its ongoing effort to evolve a common strategy of action relevant to the needs and challenges of the end of the century and the dawn of the new millennium,” Ambassador Wibisono, Chairman of the Group of 77, said.

The annual meeting of G-77 Chairmen/Coordinators held recently in Geneva in March expressed its firm commitment to further strengthening South-South cooperation.

The meeting is expected to formulate conclusions and recommendations to be submitted for appropriate consideration to the next ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 to be held on 25 September 1998 in New York.