New York Times / Al Jazeera: The state of Palestine has been elected as the presiding country of the Group of 77, the biggest bloc of developing countries at the United Nations, a move that has irked Israel.
The Group of 77 was established in 1964 by 77 countries and was designed to promote their collective economic interests, as well as to enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all major international economic issues within the UN.
Over the years, the bloc has expanded to include 135 members today, which represents 80 percent of the world’s population. The bloc also speaks as one voice at the General Assembly.
Palestine will take over from the current presiding country Egypt in January 2019.
In a telephone interview with The New York Times, Palestine’s UN ambassador Riyad Mansour confirmed the move, and said Palestine “will be negotiating on behalf of 135 countries.”
