Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri has left Tehran for Bolivia to attend the Group-77 Summit at the official invitation of the Bolivian government.
Jahangiri is scheduled to take part in the 50th summit of the Group of 77 slated for June 14 and June 15 in Bolivia's eastern city of Santa Cruz, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on June 13.
The Iranian official will deliver a speech at the summit. He will also meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales to discuss the key issues of mutual interest.
The Iranian first vice president will also meet with the president of the United Nations General Assembly and senior officials from the participating countries on the sidelines of the summit.
Jahangiri's visit to Bolivia is the first visit by a high-ranking Iranian official to the Latin American countries since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August 2013.
The Group of 77 was founded on June 15, 1964, by the Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Developing Countries issued at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The group is a coalition of developing nations, designed to promote the collective economic interests of its members and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the UN. The founding members of the organization were 77 countries; but, by November 2013, the organization's member states increased to 133.
The Group of 77 holds a one-year rotating presidency among African, Asian and Latin American countries. Bolivia holds the chairmanship for 2014.
Late in January 2011, the presidency of the group was officially handed to Iran for the first time since the 1979 Revolution.