The Third South Summit
The Third South Summit
Seeking common prosperity through South-South cooperation
The Third South Summit was held in Kampala, Uganda, on January 21-22, 2024, providing a new opportunity for countries in development to engage in dialogue and to promote united actions in the face of common challenges. During the Summit, Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdes Mesa officially presented the gavel of the presidency pro tempore of the Group of 77 and China to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Some 134 states participated in the Summit.
The First South Summit was held in Havana in 2000, in the international context of two decades of imposition of neoliberal policies by the Western powers. At that inaugural Summit, Fidel declared, “For the Group of 77, the present hour cannot be one of supplication to the developed countries, nor of submission, defeatism or internal divisions, but of rescuing our spirit of struggle and of unity and cohesion with respect to our demands.”
It was agreed in Havana that the South Summit would convene every five years. Accordingly, the Second Summit was held in Qatar in 2005. However, the South Summit had not convened for eighteen years prior to the Third Summit, as a result of the limited possibilities for international cooperation for common development.
Cuba assumed the presidency of the G-77 and China for the first time in 2023, in a context in which the possibilities of South-South cooperation have increased significantly, due to several factors, including: the dynamic expansion of China’s economy combined with its foreign policy emphasis on cooperation and mutually beneficial trade among nations; the growth and expansion of BRICS and its increasing emphasis on mutually beneficial trade among emerging economies; and the construction of projects of regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab world, and the East Asia, which are oriented to the development of mutually beneficial trade among nations within regions.
In this increasingly favorable context for South-South cooperation, Cuba has renewed the South Summit. Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, special representative for the coordination of the Cuban Presidency of G-77 and China, explained to the press the important role of the South Summit. He noted that the call of Fidel to cast aside submission, defeatism, or division cannot be ignored today, when the challenges confronting the peoples of the South have increased. He observed that since 2000, the call of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution to create a platform of and for the South and for dialogue and cooperation among countries in development is increasingly necessary.
Pedroso Cuesta pointed out that today, one cannot speak of development without speaking of science, technology, and innovation. For this reason, science, technology, and innovation have been the theme of Cuba’s presidency of G-77 and China. And, he noted, it was a central theme in the thinking and discourses of Fidel.
Addressing the Third South Summit, Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdés Mesa declared:
It is an honor for us to participate in this great event, convened by the sister Republic of Uganda.
I reiterate my satisfaction at being in African lands, to which we are united by deep bonds of brotherhood and solidarity. From our African ancestors we inherited the fighting spirit and resilience that characterize the Cuban people.
Africa deserves all our respect and accompaniment on the road to development, and I greet its leaders with particular affection. I commend particularly the leadership of President Yoweri Museveni as a promoter of peace and stability in Africa and internationally.
Excellencies:
Unity must be the watchword for the Group of 77 and China in these difficult times, when maneuvers to divide the countries of the South are proliferating.
It is indispensable and urgent for us to effectively and cohesively take action to change the current unjust international order and definitively free ourselves from the conditions of absolute disadvantage in which centuries of colonialism, neocolonialism and dependency have plunged us.
While the year 2023 was characterized by great challenges and complex processes, it also demonstrated how much we can do if we act decisively and in concert in defense of our legitimate interests and aspirations.
The Cuban Vice President proceeded to summarize the work of the Cuban presidency of the G-77 and China, which has included the organization of ministerial meetings in the fields of education, culture, and tourism, involving substantive discussions and practical agreements. He promised that Cuba will continue working with the G-77 and China in the implementation of the seventeen projects of cooperation designed under the Cuban presidency. He put forth proposals for further practical action, including international meetings addressing the application of science and innovative technology toward the fulfillment of the objectives of Agenda 2030.
Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, took the podium at the Third South Summit to congratulate Cuba for its dynamic leadership of the Group of 77 and China, carried out in the context of a difficult international scenario. Francis also emphasized the need to promote multilateralism and cooperation in order that the peoples of the South can advance.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, praised the work of Cuba in promoting science and innovation as well as creating political space for the countries of the South.
Liu Gouzhong, Vice-Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, advocated for support for the development of the nations of the South, many of which have been impacted by a history of colonialism. He declared that the panorama is changing, and the countries of the South are making progress, drawing upon its tradition of strength through unity, and seeking South-South cooperation as the great enterprise for backing the proposal of development.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Third South Summit, in his capacity as President pro tempore of the Group of 77 plus China, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni insisted on the need to attain the prosperous development of all peoples, and not only a few. He maintained that this is possible if all families participate in the generation of employment and of goods and services, in their character as employers and employees.
President Museveni stressed the importance of developing an infrastructure that links producers of goods and services to consumers. He declared that Africans have embarked on a road of trading among themselves, seeking to end the pattern of decades, in which the pockets of Africans have supported the prosperity of other peoples. Africans now, he declared, are working to develop regional African markets, but we also want trade links with our other brothers and sisters of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77. This is the foundation for the prosperity of all. He further maintained that the attainment of world peace is a necessary precondition for the development of the economies of the South.
Many participants considered the Third South Summit to be a milestone for the world, an expression of the highest sentiments of collaboration among the countries of the South. The Summit was marked by the search for actions working toward deepening cooperation in favor of the development of the peoples of the South.
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