Recently in SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia

THERE was a consensus in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at the Group of 77+China summit, held last week, that there are no more small countries and superpowers.
President Robert Mugabe who attended the summit received a befitting welcome; he was treated to two displays of Bolivian cultural dance and music and inspected a guard of honour.
The welcome was apt, arriving was a leader who has championed the rights of the so-called underdog not only in his country, but the world over.
President Mugabe, who personified the theme of the gathering, ‘New World Order for Living Well’, was easily the ‘poster boy’ of the summit.
The host country is an inspiration in many ways than one and evidence that President Mugabe is not chasing fools-gold.
Zimbabwe stands to benefit from its empowerment policies just as Bolivia has.
The wild applause after President Mugabe delivered his address showed that indeed his speech was the major highlight of the summit.
It seems everyone at the summit had been waiting for President Mugabe to make his presentation which was icing on the fruitful deliberations.
A Bolivian at the conference centre had earlier hinted that ‘everyone is waiting for your President to speak’.
President Mugabe added his voice to the growing chorus for a new world order calling on the G77+China to lead a new order that represents the aspirations of the downtrodden people and oppose domination by Western powers.
“Let us, therefore, harness this collective strength to guide global affairs towards a new world order founded on the principles of justice, equity, sovereign equality of states, mutual respect and the pursuit of multilaterism,” said President Mugabe.
“As we celebrate the Golden Jubilee of our movement, we need to reflect on how effectively we have fulfilled our collective mandate and at the same time identify strategies to achieve the noble objective of a new and just world order.
“While our organisation has notched some commendable successes since its founding, our countries still grapple with the central aspirations that necessitated the establishment of the G77.”
Bolivia like Zimbabwe, has vigorously pursued a policy of empowerment of the masses.
While Zimbabwe’s policy is yet to peak, Bolivia’s has reaped huge dividends for its people.
The summit and Bolivia will undoubtedly uplift and spur the country as it continues with efforts to uplift the livelihoods of the majority through the Land Reform and Resettlement and the on-going Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment programmes.
Under Evor Morales, Bolivia’s first democratically elected indigenous president, the South American nation has experienced unprecedented phenomenal economic growth.
Bolivia is one of the few countries in the world without a personal income tax and strangely Morales’ Government has been criticised for spending ‘wildly’ on pensions and subsidies for selective groups, like coca growers.
Morales’ administration has focused on poverty reduction, and combating the influence of the United States and transnational corporations in Bolivia.
Bolivia is example that the desires of the 100 delegations that attended the G77+China Summit can be realised and that the new thinking is not amiss.
All were in agreement that the hegemonic control of global affairs by Western nations cannot continue unabated.
The two-day summit also marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the G77 and calls were made to increase co-operation and poverty eradication.
Leaders agreed to promote collective economic interests to gain leverage in the international community. The G77 was established in 1964 and is the largest inter-governmental organisation of developing countries operating within the United Nations (UN) system.
It was founded by 77 countries and since then its membership has grown to 133 covering Africa, Asia and Latin America but it retains its original name and continues to pursue development of South-South co-operation and co-ordination of mutually beneficial positions at the UN.
The grouping emphasises on the politics and economics of self-reliance and South-South co-operation.
Chen Zhu, a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, attended the summit as a special envoy of China’s president Xi Jinping.
At their last meeting at the UN headquarters in the United States last year, foreign affairs ministers of the G77+China resolved, among other things, to maintain focus on poverty eradication and food security of their peoples.
Crucially, economic development and equal participation on global economics are central to the ideology of the G77+China.
The most important message that emanated from the summit was how insignificant and weak the control of the global economy and political affairs by the West has become.
There was an overwhelming sense of unity among the leaders.