Posted on February 9th, 2021
Sri Lanka’s
envoy in China Dr Palitha Kohona-Journalist Chakravarthi Raghavan
When the 134-member Group of 77, the largest single
coalition of developing countries, was trying to strike a hard bargain in its
negotiations with Western nations years ago, one of its envoys famously
declared: You have the numbers. We have the money.”
But that implicit threat – signifying the power of the
purse– did not deter the G77 from playing a key role in helping shape the UN’s
socio-economic agenda, including sustainable development, environmental
protection, universal health care, South–South cooperation, eradication of
extreme poverty and hunger – all of them culminating largely in the 17