50 years ago, the nations of the Third World, having won their independence from colonialism, came together to propose a vision for sovereign development and international cooperation in trade, finance, and technology — and won a UN Declaration for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order at the General Assembly.

Today, we are again in a moment of rapid geopolitical transformation with the end of the unipolar domination of the United States — but we lack a common vision of the multipolar world that is now in formation. How will we confront the crises of climate change, viral pandemic, and extreme poverty that threaten billions of lives and livelihoods across the planet?

Over the past two years, the Progressive International has convened scholars, diplomats, and policymakers in a series of debates and discussions to answer these questions. Their deliberations yielded a clear strategy to ‘assert Southern power’ toward a new global contract on sovereign development, as set out in the Havana Declaration delivered at the closing ceremony of the inaugural Congress on the New International Economic Order.

“The Congress recognizes that economic liberation will not be granted, but must be seized. Our vision can only be realized through the formation of new and alternative institutions to share critical technology, tackle sovereign debt, drive development finance, and face future pandemics together,” read the Declaration.

Since then, the Havana Group has been hard at work to develop that vision into a comprehensive Program of Action on the New International Economic Order: a document with the clarity, audacity, and pragmatism to realize sovereign and sustainable development in the twenty-first century.

Now, we are planning the launch of that Program of Action in a special ceremony at the New York Society for Ethical Culture — and we would be honored to welcome you there, alongside distinguished speakers such as Isabella Weber, Jayati Ghosh, Adam Tooze, and Branko Milanovic.

The event, coinciding with the UN General Assembly, will not only celebrate the legacy of the New International Economic Order on the occasion of its 50th anniversary — but also revive its tradition of robust programmatic thinking to redress the crises of our day.