G77+China meeting in Bolivia postponed

A meeting of energy and mining ministers of the G77+China grouping scheduled for Aug. 25-26 in Bolivia has been postponed until November "due to international events," a government spokesman said Friday.

"The United Nations, through a letter issued in New York, has requested the Summit of G77+China Energy Ministers be suspended or postponed until November due to international events," Daniel Beccar, the Energy and Hydrocarbons Ministry's representative for the Tarija region, the meeting's location, told reporters in La Paz.

The meeting's agenda includes the management of natural resources and industrialization, with input from the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNDO) and Economic Commission for Latin America and The Caribbean (ECLAC).

Beccar said Bolivia accepted the UN request, because the G77 bloc operates according to consensus.

"It has been postponed until November, but we don't have exact dates," said Beccar. "We are going to provide the dates in the coming weeks, once the different countries and the United Nations itself have been consulted."

The G77, founded 50 years ago by 77 nations, but now encompassing 133, aims to promote cooperation among developing nations within the UN system.