The North–South Summit, officially the International Meeting on Cooperation and Development, was an international summit held in Cancún, Mexico, from 22 to 23 October 1981. The summit was attended by representatives of 22 countries from five continents. It is the only north-south summit conference in history.
The goal of the conference was focused around economic development of the Global South and revitalizing economic relations with the North. Topics of discussion focused around agricultural development and food, energy, trade and industrialization, and finances. While no substantial agreements or commitments resulted from the conference, it is the only North-South summit conference in history outside of the United Nations organization and set the stage for further global communication between the global North and South.
Context
North-South focus The Summit occurred at a time when previously colonized countries were trying to establish themselves politically domestically and internationally. In the post-war era, unstable economic and political institutions, and the mismanagement of natural resources resulted in poverty and economic shortages. From 1960 to 1980 the United Nations held two consecutive "Development Decades", to create and support initiatives for the economic development of the Third World. Leading up to the North–South Summit, there were meetings, conferences and reports that directly and indirectly set a foundation for the conference in Cancún. Among them, the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had put together conferences (UNCTAD I–III) throughout the 1970s which established the G77.
The invention of the Brandt Line through the Brandt Report (1980) formed the division of 'Global North' and 'Global South' countries based on economic development status. This report emphasized the need for a revitalized and efficient cooperation between North and South to reallocate finances and economic resources for quicker development of the South. In pursuit of the Report's emergency programme, Mexican president José López Portillo and Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky, began the organization of the North–South Summit to start discussions between countries from the North and South.
Economic The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, two major international financial institutions, took on larger roles in the late 1970s and early 80s. After the 1970s energy crises, the IMF and World Bank started using structural adjustment programs and other forms of neoliberal economic policies to assist in the development, mostly in the global South. The programs included conditions for governments to enact policies and restructure their governments and economies. While the effects of these policies are contested, critics believed growth in GDP and capital investment remained limited in many countries. Leaders in the global South like López Portillo built political will and an intellectual movement towards a New International Economic Order (NIEO) in the early 1970s.
To make the NIEO into an international policy, some developing countries tried to implement a code of conduct for states in their economic relations through the United Nations. A Charter of Economic Rights and Responsibilities, which had been under discussion at UNCTAD since 1972, served as the vehicle for this. After inconclusive negotiations, the UN General Assembly cast a vote for the application of the new economic Charter. The majority of the developed nations voted against the Charter or abstained as they thought the new Charter was imbalanced.
Next, some developing nations tried to broaden international collaboration for development during the Second General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which was held in Lima in March 1975. The former economic strategy of export-led and agro-based business growth transitioned to recommendations for a multi-sectoral strategy. To lessen reliance on developed countries for technology, the conference also supported the advancement of science and technology in underdeveloped nations. The Lima conference also called for the redistribution of industrial capacity to boost the current proportion of emerging nations. Among the countries that refused segments of the Lima economic strategies, the United States voted against any economic reform, remaining committed to the existing economic international order and institutions.
Political The G77 gained prominence in the United Nations General Assembly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with many members forming part of the Non-Aligned Movement that did not openly side with the bi-polar political ideologies of the Cold War. Some countries involved in the Non-Aligned Movement helped create the NIEO. With economic development being a prominent international topic, Global North countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, West Germany, and Japan, agreed to attend the Summit in response to calls from other global North powers such as France, Canada, and Mexico, to discuss the growing wealth gap of North and South. The effect of the Cold War was still evident during the formation of the summit as the Soviet Union chose not to attend the Summit, and Cuba was excluded at the request of the United States. China and Yugoslavia were the only communist countries to attend the summit.
Location Located geographically directly below the United States, Mexico had sustained diplomatic relations with the US, a global superpower, and had a history of domestic policies supporting lower socio-economic classes within the country. With President José López Portillo as a proponent of the NIEO and with the country's post-revolutionist climate, to gain prominence in the international sphere, Cancún became a politically strategic location for the summit. As a new resort city, the Mexican government wished to transform it to a global tourist destination and locating the Summit in Cancún provided necessary exposure and publicity.
Preliminary meetings The Cancún Summit was organized by states' Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The first meeting was planned by the foreign ministers of Mexico and Austria at the UN General Assembly's XXXV Session in September 1980. Developed nations such as France, Canada, and Sweden, as well as emerging nations such as Algeria, India, Nigeria, and Yugoslavia, were invited by the foreign ministers to join a summit in Vienna in November 1980. Tanzania and West Germany later joined. The attendees discussed which nations to invite to any future summits during their initial meeting in Vienna. They agreed that a future summit would take place in Mexico, but did not specify when it would happen . The only similar type of meeting to Cancún was a smaller summit in Jamaica in December 1978, convened by Michael Manley, the prime minister of Jamaica, and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt with diplomats from Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Nigeria, Norway, the German Federal Republic, and Venezuela.
In March 1981, a follow-up meeting with the same participants was planned to take place in Vienna. It was decided in the final statement from the preparation sessions that the conference would be political in character, informal in its processes, and not engage into negotiations but instead provide an opportunity for nations to voice their opinions.
The decision to invite Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Japan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Great Britain, the United States, Venezuela, and the Soviet Union was made during the Vienna pre-meeting. President Reagan received a personal invitation to Cancún from President López Portillo in an effort to ensure U.S. participation.
Foreign ministers from the 22 nations invited to the summit met for the final time before the summit on 1–2 August 1981 in Cancún. Attendees discussed the summit's formal aspects; they did not discuss its content or a specific agenda .
Participants The summit was attended by 22 countries from five continents. As well as the UN delegation, there were eight leaders from industrialized nations and fourteen less economically developed nations. A delegation of no more than ten individuals accompanied the heads of state and government. The delegation often consisted of the minister of foreign affairs, diplomatic aides, and the head of state's translator. American participation was seen as an essential component to the meeting as the United States provided more funds than any other nation. As of 7 August 2025, Willibald Pahr is the last surviving participant. CountryRepresentativeTitleKurt WaldheimSecretary-GeneralChadli BendjedidPresidentWillibald PahrMinister of Foreign AffairsAbdus SattarPresidentRamiro Saraiva GuerreiroMinister of External RelationsPierre TrudeauPrime MinisterZhao ZiyangPremierFrançois MitterrandPresidentHans-Dietrich GenscherMinister for Foreign AffairsForbes BurnhamPresidentIndira GandhiPrime MinisterSimeon AkéMinister of Foreign AffairsZenko SuzukiPrime MinisterJosé López PortilloPresidentShehu ShagariPresidentFerdinand MarcosPresidentFahd bin Abdulaziz Al SaudCrown PrinceThorbjörn FälldinPrime MinisterJulius NyererePresidentMargaret ThatcherPrime MinisterRonald ReaganPresidentLuis Herrera CampinsPresidentSergej KraigherPresident of the Presidency of Yugoslavia
Individual contributions Mexican President José López Portillo: Conference chairGuide de voyage Ulysse, Cancun et la Riviera Maya, 3 janvier 2013, 283 pages. Federal Chancellor of Austria Bruno Kreisky: Original Co-chair, did not end up attending due to illness Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau: Alternative Co-chair French President François Mitterrand: attended the summit on one of his first official trips abroad.Discours de Jean-Louis Debré, président de l'Assemblée nationale, lors de la réception de Vicente Fox, président du Mexique, 14 novembre 2002. He spoke about the need to change the terms of trade between industrialized countries and developing countries, and affirmed the will of France to actively contribute to the development of the Third World.Document de travail remis par M. François Mitterrand, Président de la République, à l'ouverture de la conférence Nord-Sud de Cancun au Mexique, jeudi 22 octobre 1981, Vie-publique.fr.Chronologie de la notice Pays en développement (PED), Larousse.fr, consulté le 5 août 2013.Chronologie de la politique de coopération pour le développement (1958–2007), Vie-publique.fr, mis à jour le 3 septembre 2007. Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang: called for the establishment of a new international economic order.Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Chine : chronologie orientée, Politique étrangère, volume 48, numéro 1, p. 106, 1983.
Goals The goal of the summit was to engage in a discussion regarding the proposal of new cooperation between the North and South for the development of the South. The emphasis was on the newly established NIEO, which would aim to redistribute wealth and resources from developed to developing countries. The NIEO was based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. This idea recognized that developed countries had a greater responsibility to address global problems such as poverty and environmental degradation as their historical exploitation of resources in the developing countries resulted in their lack of access to global markets and capital. The G77 concerns included poor trade terms, declining currency values, and debt deficits, which they would discuss at the Summit. This ideology, however, stood in contrast with the existing neoliberal framework of international financial institutions and neoliberal approaches from the Reagan and Thatcher administrations.
Proceedings
Topics discussed