New York, 5 November 2001

Mr. President

Speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, let me express, first and foremost, our deep appreciation for your active and engaged stewardship of the work of the General Assembly. I should also take the opportunity to register our appreciation to the Secretary General and the Secretariat for the timely reports prepared for this year’s session, including for the agenda item 39 on “global partnership”.

Mr. President

This is the second year in a row that we have been dealing with the question of partnership, which if nothing else, should signify the importance of the subject to all of us in the General Assembly, both developing and developed. Since the group has had the opportunity in the past to present its general views on various aspects of global partnership, I do not intend to repeat the positions and analyses which are fully known to the Assembly and our partners in the North. Instead the emphasis in the present statement will be on some of the elements and aspects which we consider prominent and urgent for our prospective work, as also addressed in the Secretary General’s report.

As we all know, it was only last General Assembly session that we started dealing with the question of partnership as a new agenda item, and that is why the discussion could still be considered at its exploratory stage. I should stress right at this very point that, the G77 and China attaches, as a matter of principle, great importance to the role and participation of stakeholders, including the private sector, in activities towards the realization of the UN’s goals and objectives. Based on this overall premise, we are well disposed and fully prepared to engage actively in a proactive and constructive dialogue with all interested negotiating partners on all aspects of this important subject.

The developing world and its sole universal deliberative body at the United Nations, the Group of 77 and China are of the firm view that Partnership, in its every aspect and at the national and global levels alike, should be conducive to development and the elimination of poverty. This hardly needs to be over-emphasized. What is at issue, therefore, is the role the entire international community should play in this context. . The question of building partnerships, an important emerging issue, finds its place within this overall framework. Put in very practical terms, the question for us is how to strengthen the development role of the UN system, how to enhance the effectiveness of its development activities and its support for national development strategies and programmes by implementing various initiatives including partnerships with all relevant partners and in particular private sectors. Needless to emphasize that these initiatives should thoroughly be reviewed, discussed, and refined by the member states. In other words, any actual progress on forging partnerships should by necessity await elaboration, and more importantly, adoption, by the intergovernmental body of the requisite elements and modalities for the intended partnerships.

In a world somewhat fixated on market economics and corporate profitability, legislation and intergovernmental agreements should remain important components of any strategy to promote corporate responsibility and accountability. New initiatives in general and partnerships in particular should not lead to further weakening the regulatory role of the state and intergovernmental bodies. It is necessary to reiterate the importance of the state in providing for the general welfare of its citizens. We should recognize that fact and not undermine or diminish the role of the state. The state is the one in charge of development and not the market or corporations as they have totally different agendas. Meanwhile we should not lose sight of the fact that for many small states the private sector and market involvement is almost non-existent and that the government is the largest employer.

The cooperation between the United Nations and relevant partners should mainly aim at making contribution to the realization of the goals and programmes of the Organization. Relevant partners, particularly the private sector, could contribute to the realization of the development goals of the Organization with financial resources, transfer of technology, management expertise, in kind donations, responsible investments, price reduction of drugs for HIV/AIDS and other diseases treatment. We particularly hope that the transnational corporations, which have great influence in the global economy, would join the efforts towards the realization of the development goals of the United Nations and take concrete measures to help developing countries in their efforts to promote development.

In our view, it is imperative that the United Nations and its related bodies should focus their work on issues central to transfer of knowledge and technology and the building of necessary domestic capacities, with a view to promoting the competitiveness of developing countries. The Group of 77 and China are very much concerned that the resources available to the UN system to assist developing countries in meeting the challenges they face in designing the policies and strategies required to bridge the technology gap between the North and the South are simply inadequate. We support recommendation made by the Secretary General in his report that the resources the partners can contribute, in terms of expertise, funding and technology, should be a complement to governmental resources, not a substitute.

The Group of 77 and China agree with the idea raised by the Secretary General that the diversity of relationship between the United Nations and the relevant partners is such that it is not possible to adopt a “one-size-fits-all” institutional approach for dealing with all types of cooperation, at all levels of the system. We take the view that in the cooperation with relevant partners, the United Nations need to follow differentiated approach, in line with the characteristics of the partners as well as the fundamental purpose of making contributions to the implementation of the development goals and programmes of the Organization.

With this in mind, and also with due regard for the provisions of the GA resolution 55/215, stressing the need for member states further to discuss partnership and consider, in appropriate intergovernmental consultations, ways and means to enhance cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partners, inter alia, from the developing countries, to give them greater opportunities to contribute to the realization of the goals and programmes of the Organization, the Group of 77 and China stands ready to contribute to collective intergovernmental endeavours towards evolving a common vision and realistic approaches to promoting partnership among all stakeholders.