The second summit of the Group of 77 (G77) and China kicked off here on Wednesday to focus on ways to promote South-South cooperation in addition to South-North ties and UN reform.

Representatives from 131 member states and China attend the two- day summit, including 32 heads of state.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al- Thani, the emir of host country Qatar, called for more efforts to promote south-south cooperation, especially in trade.

Cooperation among developing countries has qualified G77 with their economic weight to be an active partner in the world economic arena, Sheikh Hamad said.

The main factors for the success of cooperation among developing countries "do exist, we only need to activate them and benefit from them, due to the comprehensive system of preferential trade among developing countries," he continued.

The Qatari emir stressed that globalization has opened new opportunities, however, its benefits have not yet covered the vast majority in developing world, in particular the least developed countries.

"It is G77's duty to set up and continuously support programs for social and educational development, and be prepared for facing up to unexpected challenges such as new diseases and natural disasters," he said.

The emir proposed to set up a fund for economic, social, health, poverty and human catastrophes, saying the fund may be called "The South Fund for Development and Human Circumstances" and Qatar will donate 20 million US dollars to the fund.

Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the G77, called for boosting development cooperation among member states.

"We have not adequately exploited the potential for cooperation" within the G77, said Patterson, adding the countries of the south should increase economic and technical cooperation.

According to Patterson, there were two major reasons for the limited success of the G77, namely the failure to provide financial resources to deliver the development objectives and lack of provision of institutional mechanisms at the economic and technical levels.

He said globalization and interdependence required a broadened level of consultation and decision-making to formulate international economic policies.

Source: Xinhua