President Ramkalawan to attend G77 and China Summit and 78th UN general assembly |14 September 2023

President Ramkalawan

Seychelles’ president, Wavel Ramkalawan, will attend the Group 77 and China Summit to be held in Havana, Cuba this weekend. 

Convened by Cuba, as chairman of the Group of 77 and China, the summit of heads of state and government will be held on September 15 and 16 to discuss the theme ‘Current Development Challenges: The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation’.
Following his mission in Cuba, President Ramkalawan will join other world leaders in New York for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78) under the theme, ‘Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and the sustainability for all’. 

The first day of the high-level General Debate will be September 19, 2023.
The President will be accompanied by the First Lady, Linda Ramkalawan; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde; and will later be joined by the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan and the Seychelles ambassador to the United States of America and Seychelles’ permanent representative to the United Nations, Ian Madeleine, for UNGA 78 in New York.
During President Ramkalawan’s absence from the country, his duties and responsibilities will be discharged by Vice-President Ahmed Afif.
The Group of 77 and China is the largest bloc of developing countries within the United Nations System. It is the most diverse consultative group in the multilateral sphere, with 134 member states representing two-thirds of the membership of the United Nations and 80 percent of the world's population.

The Group was created on June 15, 1964, following the signing of the ‘Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries’, issued at the end of the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), held in Geneva. It was created with the aim of stimulating the economic interests of the founding countries and strengthening joint negotiating capacity within the UN.

Cuba joined the Group in 1971. In January 2023, it assumed its pro tempore presidency for the first time.

Press release from the Office of the President