By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jan 25 (IPS) The republic of Yemen, categorised by the United Nations as one of the world's "least developed countries" (LDCs), will lead the largest single coalition of developing nations this year: the 130-member Group of 77 (G77).
A country that hit news headlines recently – following an attempt by a Nigerian student, with links to insurgents in Yemen, to blow up a U.S. airline in midair – Yemen will be the chief negotiator on economic and social issues on the U.N. agenda this year.
At a formal inauguration ceremony last week, the Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr Abubakr Al-Qirbi pledged to lead the developing nations, including China, in upcoming negotiations on several important meetings and conferences in 2010.
These include meetings commemorating the 15th anniversary of two major international conferences held in March 1995: the World Conference on Women in Beijing and the World Social Summit on Development in Copenhagen.
The United Nations is expected to review the implementation of the action plans adopted at the two talk-fests, one on gender empowerment and the other on economic and social progress in developing nations.
At both meetings this year, Yemen will be the key player among developing countries on any follow-up action for the future.
The G77 will also take a collective stand on key issues that will come up at three other conferences this year: the U.N. summit of world leaders on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September in New York; the 10th conference on the Convention on Biodiversity in Japan in October; and the resumed climate change negotiations in Mexico in November.
Ambassador Vanu Gopala Menon of Singapore told IPS he was confident that "Yemen will do well as G77 chair".
Ambassador Abdullah Al-Saidi, who will head the G77 negotiations, "is a wise man, highly respected, very knowledgeable, extremely experienced and a consensus-builder," he said.
"All of us will be happy to work with him to find constructive solutions to the many issues and challenges on the U.N.'s agenda," Menon said.
Addressing delegates last week, Yemeni Foreign Minister Al-Qirbi said his country is taking over the G77 chairmanship at a time when the world is facing an extremely complex financial, economic and environmental situation.
"In spite of the huge efforts that developing countries have made since 2000, with a view to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, successive world crises over the past few years have eroded the progress they made and made it more difficult for them to achieve these desired goals by the year 2015," he said.
Today, he said, developing countries are faced with the aftermath of the world financial crisis and its repercussions on the world economy.
But they have still not overcome the impact of the food crisis of 2008, the subsequent rise in food prices, the spread of hunger and starvation and the widening poverty margin that now includes more than one billion people.
Al-Qirbi pointed out that the repercussions of the global financial and economic crisis on developing countries have been "catastrophic" due to the collapse of trade, the decline of basic commodity prices, the flight of capital, the increase in lending costs, the imposition of restrictions on Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the sharp reduction in foreign investments.
In many developing countries, particularly the 49 least developed countries (LDCs), these combined factors have led to cutbacks in public and private spending on social services such as health, education and poverty reduction programmes, he added.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates that the G77 and China represent the majority of U.N. member states.
"Your members range from the poorest nations to emerging middle-income countries with growing influence," he said.
"And your concerns," he added, "drive the work of the United Nations on many fronts, but particularly on development, as a means of achieving lasting peace and stability, and advancing human rights."
Ban also said the G77 has "special role" in the global campaign to reach the MDGs, including poverty and hunger alleviation, by the target date of 2015.
He said he plans to issue a report in March with his own assessment of gaps and needs.
The secretary-general also told G77 delegates he expects to appoint a "dynamic leader" for a new U.N. gender entity, and he also sought the cooperation of developing nations to complete negotiations on climate change before the end of this year.
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