This is my last opportunity to address you from the Chair of the Group of 77 and China at an ambassadorial meeting. At the handover meeting on 8th January, I’m happy to say that Fiji’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, will be present to pass the torch on to Bolivia. I know that the 8th of January will be a momentous day for us all, a day which we are greatly looking forward to.
Ambassadors of the Group of 77 and China gathered in New York today for their last formal meeting at the United Nations in 2013. The meeting of the ambassadors of the 133 member states of the world’s developing countries was attended by the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador John Ashe, and the UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson.
Thank you for convening this gathering that we might all have the opportunity to pay tribute to the memory of one of humanity’s great leaders. I stand here today on behalf of the 133 countries of the Group of 77 and China to join the international voice that rises in praise of the late President Mandela.
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