UN chief hails 'historic' moment as Palestine take over reins of G77

United Nations, Jan 16 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the "historic leadership" of Palestine which accepted the chairmanship of G77, the worldwide body's biggest intergovernmental organisation of developing countries including India.

Egypt was the previous Chair of the Group of 77 (G77), a coalition of 134 members, alongside China which aligns itself with the bloc.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin Tuesday wished Palestine success, saying "India is privileged to stand up for the global South's quest for greater equity and justice".

In his comments at the annual ceremony for handover of the rotating chairmanship of G77, UN chief Guterres stated: "Palestine and its citizens have first-hand experience of the absolute most difficult and dramatic global issues we confront".

The choice to choose Palestine as the 2019 Chair of the G77 was taken in September, 2018 by the foreign ministers of the Groups' member states.

After a month, the UN General Assembly approved a resolution that enabled Palestine a non-member Observer State at the world body additional privileges and rights, such as participating in international conferences held under its protection, for the duration of its role as G77 Chair.

"You are very much set to take up the chairmanship of this important group of nations," Guterres said.

As multilateralism keeps on going under "extreme weight from numerous sides", the UN boss underscored the significance of the G77 and China's proceeded with help.

"The Group of 77 and China have exhibited solid administration all through 2018 and turned out to be a central force in demonstrating that multilateralism is the best way to address our shared challenges," Guterres said.

Akbaruddin said in a tweet: "Wishing Ambassador Riad Mansoor of Palestine success following his taking over as the chair of the Group of 77 at the UN in the presence of President Mahmoud Abbas".

Abbas said Palestine would use its chairmanship to safeguard the multilateral global request and strengthen ties with its UN accomplices.

"People are the real treasure for countries and real and manageable development must be achieved when openings are upgraded to guarantee for all people, full and free participation in all relevant matters in life," he said.

Abbas expressed that under the core value of "solidarity in decent variety", the G77 focuses around the least created nations, small island developing states, centre pay nations and people groups living under colonial and foreign occupation, "to guarantee nobody is left behind"".

Guterres credited the gathering and the earlier Egyptian administration as having been "at the heart" of the advancement made in difficulties that extended from environmental change to rising imbalance and quick changing and new innovations.

The UN boss singled out Egypt's "profoundly compelling" initiative and support on back for creating nations to meet their atmosphere activity duties.

He called the group "instrumental" in achieving both a comprehensive agreement that deals with migration in the entirety of its measurements, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration; and a Development System to kill destitution, actualize programs on a national dimension and to position advancement "at the centre of UN activities".

"You help to keep the United Nations concentrated on the issues that mean the most defenseless, and we owe you an obligation of appreciation for your amazingly useful job," Guterres said.

He encouraged the G77 to bring "solutions and commitments" to, among others, the atmosphere summit in September and counted other upcoming events in need of the bloc's support.

On Monday, the UN chief met with President Abbas and offered his congratulations, wished the group a successful year and reiterated that the two-state solution is the only viable option to sustainable peace.

G-77, built up in 1964 by 77 creating nations in Geneva, cases to give the way to the nations of the South to express and advance their group monetary interests and upgrade their joint arranging limit on all major international economic issues within the UN system and promote South-South cooperation for development.