Post-Colonial Moment: G77 meets today in Doha

While the world focuses on the upcoming G8 summit in Scotland in two weeks, leaders from some 132 member states of the Group of 77 (G77) gathered in Doha tycommenced the Second South-South Summit today which is set to review the development challenges facing their nations and to craft a unified position with regard to proposals for the strengthening of the United Nations, at the core of the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Attendees are expected to welcome the recent decision by G8 ministers to write off debts, but reject the conditions that come with them.

A new UN report shows that there has been significant economic improvement in the Global South, especially in Brazil, China, Qatar, India and even Cuba.

The report says of Brazil that "It has one of the most vital programmes for supporting other developing countries in the areas of public administration, health, education, agriculture, environment, energy and small enterprises."

China and India have become emerging global economies in the last few years. Both countries now have "strong programmes" that provide training for nationals of other developing countries and support for building institutional capacity, and both are known to commit substantial funding for such projects.

According to Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations in 2003 almost half of all imports by the United States and Japan, and more than a third of all imports by the European Union (EU), came from the South. The same is true of their exports to markets in the South.

While the UN study shows that "there are serious problems facing many developing countries, especially in Africa and those that are least developed, landlocked or small islands," progress is being made, albeit slowly.