G-77+China Summit urges for promoting science, innovation, technology

Representatives of several nations urged at the G77+China Summit to promote the development of science, technology, and innovation in developing countries to mitigate poverty.

Havana, Cuba.- In his speech at the Summit, held at the Havana International Conference Center, Algeria’s Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Kamal Beddari called on the international community to share knowledge as part of solidarity.

He also called for strengthening structures of communication technologies and other areas in developing countries and fighting off illiteracy about new technologies, which, in his opinion, have a strong impact on trade and the Internet.

Mali’s State, Territorial Administration, and Decentralization Minister Abdoulaye Maiga, on the other hand, said that factors such as climate change and insecurity were holding back development and preventing some countries from achieving sustainable development goals.

Maiga thanked the G-77+China member states for their role in the search for security in his country, which is beset by a multidimensional crisis, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

The Malian minister also called on the US government to lift the criminal and unilateral economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed against Cuba, which has lasted more than 60 years.

In turn, Bangladesh’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque said his country, whose Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by over 3% in the last decade, prioritizes the implementation of progressing in science and technology.

He said that as positive indicators in Bangladesh during this period, social poverty was reduced and life expectancy surged, among other advances.

Meanwhile, Zambia´s Science and Technology Minister Felix Chipota Mark Mutati said that, like other countries, Lusaka faces common challenges that prevent further progress in the field of technology.

He cited, in this regard, the insufficient availability of financial resources to promote science and technology, as well as the barrier of intellectual property, an instrument used by industrialized economies to the detriment of the most disadvantaged, to protect their interests. (PL)