With China as guest, G77 summit seeks new development commitments

Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) (AFP) – Leaders of developing nations plus China meet Saturday to draft a global anti-poverty agenda at a summit that also showcases Latin America’s burgeoning relationship with the Asian giant. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Bolivia’s President Evo Morales were scheduled to inaugurate the G77 summit, which marks the 50th anniversary of the group’s founding. “This summit is not purely commemorative, it will propose new social policies,” said Morales, a leader of Latin America’s radical left and the group’s current president. The summit closes Sunday with a document that Bolivia’s Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera described as “the first draft of the post Millennium Development Goals,” a set of UN goals that are approaching their 2015 expiration date.