71.  Downer also called for changes in the U.N. regional group system, whereby smaller states gain greater influence in U.N. affairs.

72.  Downer did not offer a specific proposal for reconstituting the regional groups.

73.  Earlier this month it garnered the support of four deputies from another smaller regional group.

74.  Earlier this year, Malawi joined a regional group that had originally been formed to fight apartheid in South Africa.

75.  Five of the Mekong Basin countries have close relations as members of the regional group, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

76.  Four members of the regional group, including the Philippines, have claims in the disputed territories.

77.  Half a dozen regional groups, representing individual states, also said they will support a National Front-Left Front government.

78.  Guatemala leads the regional group, with Costa Rica and Barbados sharing second and the United States fourth.

79.  Gujral and Sharif had met in the Maldives, an Indian Ocean Island state, last May on the sidelines of a regional group meeting.

80.  Greece is competing with Canada and the Netheralands for the two seats allotted this year to the regional group that encompasses Western Europe and North America.