Cuba Hands Over G-77 Presidency to Lesotho

Geneva, Mar 18. -Cuba handed over the presidency of the Group of 77 (G-77) plus China to the Kingdom of Lesotho, after a year of outstanding work, top officials and diplomats stated.

The ceremony was held at the Palais des Nations of Geneva, the second UN headquarters, and those attending included the secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, Supachai Panitchpakdi, and the executive director of the South Centre, Martin Khor.

After assessing the concluded mandate and outlining the goals of the G-77, the Cuban permanent representative to Geneva, Rodolfo Reyes, expressed gratitude for the compliments for his work made by numerous diplomats here.

China, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Yemen, South Africa, Indonesia, Cameroon, Morocco, Iraq, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Zambia, Mali, Tunisia and Angola congratulated Cuba, as did Nepal, Paraguay, Ghana, El Salvador and Thailand.

After handing over the presidency to Lesotho ambassador Anthony Mothae, Reyes stated that the G-77 should coordinate its positions for the 4th UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, the 13th UNCTAD Ministerial Conference, the 3rd South Summit and the Earth Summit in 2012.