The Fiftieth Anniversary Congress on the New International Economic Order, held from April 28 to May 1 at the National Capitol in Havana, Cuba, closed yesterday, Wednesday, May 1, with a “road map for a Southern insurgency.” Global that remakes the world system through new and alternative institutions of global governance for peace, prosperity and planetary protection.
The Congress—convened by the Progressive International and the National Association of Economists and Accountants of Cuba—gathered in this capital prominent academics, diplomats and legislators from 36 countries, including Brazil, South Africa, China, Colombia, Kenya, Indonesia and Spain, during three days of intense debates, deliberations and preparation of a Program of Action to guarantee peace through sovereign development in the 21st century.
Among the participants were Ernesto SamperFormer President of Colombia; Attiya WarisUN Independent Expert on external debt, other international financial obligations and human rights; Mathu JoyiniPermanent Representative of South Africa to the UN; Cristina ReisBrazilian Undersecretary of Sustainable Economic Development; Ramón Pichs-MadrugaVice President of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Andrés ArauzFormer Governor of the Central Bank of Ecuador; Marlon Ochoa, Minister of Finance of Honduras; and Jeffrey SachsDirector of the Columbia Center for Sustainable Development.
The assembled delegates debated strategies and tactics to achieve a New International Economic Order and worked on important proposals for structural reform around five themes:
- Finance, Debt and the International Monetary System
- Science, Technology and Innovation
- Climate, Energy and Natural Resources
- Commodities, Industry and International Trade
- Governance, Multilateralism and International Law.
These proposals will be developed into a renewed and detailed Program of Action for the establishment of a new international economic order before the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024, together with partner governments around the world. This programmatic development, which will be overseen by a technical committee of the Progressive International, will be carried out through online forums and in subsequent in-person conferences, with Algeria, Honduras, Mexico and Colombia as host countries.
The Havana Congress concluded with a presentation by President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez in which he presented the vision of the Cuban Presidency of the Group of 77 + China for the New International Economic Order.
In her opening presentation to the Congress, the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN, Ambassador Mathu Joyini, said:
“The New International Economic Order will address the harms caused to developing countries by the international system, including the series of financial, trade and fiscal abuses that have been sucking trillions from the South.”
In his closing remarks, former Cuban Minister of Economy and Planning, José Luis Rodríguez, stated:
«The first thing to achieve development is peace. “As long as bombs continue to fall, we will not achieve development.”
To officially close the Congress, the General Co-Coordinator of the Progressive International, Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, declared:
«In this historic Congress, held in the splendor of the National Capitol here in Havana, academics, diplomats and legislators from Senegal to Sweden, from Colombia to China, from Australia to Argentina have charted a concrete and inspiring path out of this era. of intolerable looting and revenge.
We have before us a roadmap for a Global South insurgency to remake the world system through new and alternative global governance institutions for peace, prosperity and planetary protection.
In September, at the United Nations General Assembly, we will publish this detailed action plan and commit to working tirelessly to unite, mobilize and organize progressive forces around the world to achieve it.
