CLOSING STATEMENT BY MRS. DIEDRE MILLS, FIRST SECRETARY, PERMANENT MISSION OF JAMAICA TO THE UN, ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA, AT THE FOURTEENTH SESSION OF THE HIGH-LEVEL COMMITTEE ON SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION, 3 JUNE 2005 (New York, 3 June 2005)

Mr President,

From the outset, the Group of 77 and China would like to congratulate you and your bureau for successfully guiding the work of the 14 th session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation. Under your able leadership, we have had very fruitful discussions on strengthening South-South Cooperation within the broader framework of international cooperation for development.

May I also take this opportunity to again congratulate the Director and members of staff of Special Unit for South-South Cooperation as well as the UNDP and I acknowledge the presence of the Associate Administrator here this afternoon, for their contribution to the success of this meeting. We appreciated, in particular, the very useful and timely discussion on the role of South-South cooperation in achieving the MDGs.

Mr President,

The decisions which the Committee has adopted by consensus present an opportunity for us to embark on a new era for South-South and triangular cooperation. We are therefore deeply indebted to Mr Kazuo Sunaga, Chairman of the Working Group, who so skilfully guided the negotiations.

It is now up to us as member states to continue to work together to ensure that progress made to date in South-South cooperation can be advanced in the years to come. The many challenges facing developing countries, especially the least developed countries, the landlocked developing countries, small island developing states and Africa in general, demonstrate that international cooperation for development remains an imperative. We expect that this commitment will be reinforced in the context of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly in September later this year.

I thank you.