G15 to be engaged in post-2015 Development Agenda
The Group of Fifteen announced plans for heightened South-South Cooperation and engagement with Geneva-based institutions at their Annual Meeting of the G15 Foreign Ministers in New York.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Group of Fifteen held their 36th annual meeting on the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly on 27 September 2013 in New York where they renewed their commitment for enhanced engagement and cooperation among themselves, as well as with the relevant Geneva-based institutions including the South Centre. Agreeing to expand cooperation in step with the evolving Post-2015 development agenda, the Group decided to include information and communications technology, intellectual property, migration for development and renewable energy as new areas for G15 cooperation.
The meeting was chaired by Professor G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs, Sri Lanka. Ministers/Heads of Delegations of the G15 member states reviewed and unanimously approved recommendations spanning the new thematic and other areas of cooperation including formalizing the ongoing working relationship with the South Centre.
Established as a Summit Level group of developing countries in 1989, following the conclusion of the Ninth Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Belgrade, the Group comprises 17 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. The aims and objectives of the Group are to harness the latent potential of the member states for mutually beneficial cooperation, besides serving as a forum for the conduct of regular consultations in pursuance of their common agenda.
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and the Chair of the Personal Representatives of the Group, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, while presenting the highlights of the activities undertaken by the Group, made special mention of the common positions arrived at by the Group on vital global issues delivered during the year at the sessions of the WHO, ILO, FAO, ECOSOC and UNCTAD with more in the pipeline. Noting the dire need for enhanced cooperation, engagement and solidarity among nations of the Global South for securing bargaining power and leverage, Ambassador Aryasinha pointed to the need for developing countries to engage more unitedly towards framing the international development agenda, in order to forestall it from being “imposed” by the developed countries as a fait accompli.
The Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris, noting the ongoing deliberations in shaping the global development landscape beyond the year 2015, called for a collective voice in articulation of common interests and convergence across a wide spectrum of fields, including eradication of poverty, balancing economic development with environmental protection, access to technology, reforms in international financial institutions, sustainable growth, among others. He reaffirmed that the Group not only has the potential to be an active contributor to the Post-2015 Development Agenda, but can also be a voice on behalf of the Global South.
The Group unanimously accepted Kenya’s offer to be the next Chair of the G15 following the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the G15 scheduled to be held in the last quarter of 2014 in Colombo.
