I see the Group of 77 as a symbol of the quest for and an essential element of the democratization of international relations, of the United Nations and of the UN system.

G-77 at 50: not an age of retirement but of experience and wisdom to transform the world economy, for poor countries and people.Go ahead!

The Global South needs leaders of the standing, knowledge and, most of all, conviction of Julius K. Nyerere and Raul Prebisch and a major organization at the global level, which would give energy and impulse to the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement to confront common challenges in continuing their struggle for world peace, development and an equitable world economic and political order.

The commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the G-77 is an opportunity for its member nations to assess the progress achieved through their joint action to redress the injustices and inequities of a world order crafted by powerful actors in the developed world to serve their own perceived self-interest.

The immediate interests and specific negotiating priorities of many of its many members—the great number in itself makes it difficult to achieve consensus—are different from those of the others.The individual countries differ vastly from one another with respect to their cultural, ideological, political, and economic systems.

The 50 years of celebrations should be the starting point for a new phase, in which the G-77 plays a public role for the good of man and woman all over the world.

Is it still necessary to teach about the United Nations? Absolutely—now, perhaps more than ever. With a spiraling global population, the need to better inform and educate young people the world over about the United Nations represents an ongoing challenge that cannot go unheeded.

A long-standing and unique instrument that provides experiential learning opportunity for students, and addresses this kind of multifaceted and deeper impact, is the Model UN experience. Even before the creation of the United Nations, in the 1920s a group of students from Ivy League schools introduced the model league, which later morphed into the Model UN.

Through rigorous scholarship—fundamental or applied—universities are in a unique position to contribute to the search for more effective management and a resolution of such transborder problems as cybersecurity and terrorism, climate change, and cross border migration, to cite only a few.

The role of the good university is to enable us to understand more deeply how we can live plurally and tolerantly as one globalized world.