ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Group's genesis, evolution, and how it has adapted itself to changing times and circumstances. Group of 77 came into being, on 15 June 1964, through the "Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven" issued at the end of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which was held in Geneva between 23 March and 16 June 1964. Contrary to the steady progress for the Group and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) during the 1970s, the onset of the 1980s brought a series of developments with substantial negative effects and repercussions. The change in the overall balance of power on a global scale also changed the dominant discourse on economic issues at the United Nations. The earlier debate on the need for radical change was substituted with the focus on the need for domestic reform within the developing countries.
