Dar urges G-77, China to remain united on development agenda

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (DPM/FM) Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has called on the G-77 and China to remain united in safeguarding the development agenda, strengthening multilateralism and advancing a more equitable international economic order. Addressing the Annual Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the G-77 and China in New York, Dar congratulated Uruguay and Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin for the country’s stewardship of the Group during the year. Dar said developing countries continued to face constrained fiscal space, unsustainable debt burdens, declining concessional finance, climate vulnerabilities and rapidly widening technological divides. “These challenges are testing both the promise of multilateralism and our collective ability to deliver development at scale, ” he said. READ ALSO: China, Pakistan vow to deepen bilateral ties He stressed that the Group must remain united in safeguarding the development agenda, preserving its centrality within the United Nations and ensuring that agreed commitments translated into tangible outcomes. The DPM/FM called for sustained momentum on implementation of the Sevilla Commitment, noting important steps including the convening of ECOSOC special meetings on financial integrity and credit rating agencies, as well as the launch of the Borrowers’ Platform. He said Pakistan had been pleased to serve as Vice-Chair of the Working Group on the Borrowers’ Platform. The DPM/FM called for further progress on outstanding commitments, particularly an intergovernmental process to address systemic gaps in the sovereign debt architecture, establishment of a global debt registry and guiding principles on responsible sovereign borrowing and lending, scaling up lending by multilateral development banks and revitalisation of the Development Cooperation Forum. On artificial intelligence, Dar stressed the need to ensure that the AI revolution did not deepen existing inequalities. He welcomed the establishment of the Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, saying these mechanisms should integrate and strengthen the UN’s role in the field. He called for efforts to ensure that the new mechanisms helped bridge AI divides, built capacities in developing countries and secured their meaningful voice in global AI governance. Dar also called for renewed momentum on the Sustainable Development Goals, saying the 2027 SDG Summit should be strategically utilised to shape the post-2030 development agenda. He said the G-77 and China should develop a unified and coherent approach, similar to the one adopted in 2015. He added that the G-77 and China must seize available opportunities to advance the collective aspirations of developing countries. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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