G77 chair

The Group of 77 (G77) is the largest intergovernmental coalition of developing countries at the United Nations, founded in 1964 at the conclusion of the first UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD I) in Geneva. Although it began with 77 founding members, it has grown to over 130 states. The coalition coordinates positions on economic, financial, and development issues across the UN system.

The G77 chair (formally "Chairmanship of the Group of 77") is the rotating leadership position held by one member state for a one-year term, running on the calendar year. The chair rotates by geographic region — Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean — on a predictable cycle, ensuring no single bloc dominates.

Responsibilities of the chair include:

• Convening and presiding over G77 ministerial meetings, the annual summit of heads of state (held periodically), and working-level coordination meetings in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi, Rome, Paris, and Washington.
• Negotiating on behalf of the group in UN bodies, most visibly during the UN General Assembly's Second Committee (economic and financial), the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, climate negotiations under the UNFCCC, and financing-for-development conferences.
• Issuing statements in the name of "the Group of 77 and China," a long-standing formulation reflecting China's associated but non-member status.
• Hosting summits when capacity allows; the chair country typically organises the principal annual ministerial.

The chair is usually represented at UN headquarters by its Permanent Representative, who delivers G77 statements in plenary debates. Because the G77 often negotiates as a single bloc, the chair wields disproportionate influence in shaping developing-country positions on issues such as climate finance, debt restructuring, technology transfer, and reform of international financial institutions.

Past chairs have included Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, Pakistan, South Africa, and Uganda, among many others. The chair is selected by consensus within the regional group whose turn it is.