SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia (AFP) ― U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday opened a Group of 77 plus China summit in Bolivia, with developing countries calling for a more fair new world economic order.

Ban spoke to a vast audience that included some 30 heads of government and representatives of more than 100 nations, about two-thirds of the world’s countries.

The destiny of billions of poor people and the state of the planet depends on their work, Ban told the group.

Dignitaries at the event include the presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba and host nation Bolivia.

China, which is not a G77 member, is participating in the summit, partly in a nod to its expanding trade ties in Latin America, although President Xi Jinping will not attend.

Leaders at the summit are pressing a “fight for fair and sustainable economic growth, and for a new world economic order,” said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa slammed the current global economic system as morally flawed.

“Only when we are united across Latin America and united around the world, will we be able to make our voice heard and change an international order that is not just unfair ― it is immoral,” Correa said.

Cuban President Raul Castro meanwhile warned that Havana’s closest ally Venezuela needed support amid fallout from deadly anti-government protests.

“Venezuela today needs our staunchest support,” Castro, 83, said in a rare international speech.

Cash-strapped Havana still has a centrally planned economy and cannot get access to international loans, and Venezuela supplies it with cut-rate oil.