GROUP OF 77
GENEVA

G-77 and China Opening Statement

91st Session of the Working Party on the Programme Plan and Programme Performance (5-9 October 2026)

(Geneva, 5 October 2026)

Madam / Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

At the outset, the Group congratulates you and the members of the Bureau on your election. You can count on our constructive engagement. We also thank the Acting Secretary-General of UNCTAD and the Secretariat for the documentation prepared for this session.

This Working Party meets at an important moment. UNCTAD is implementing the Geneva Consensus while responding to growing demands from member States under increasingly constrained financial and human resources. Our discussions this week should therefore remain practical and focused on three issues: delivery, resources and mandates.

First, on delivery, the Group welcomes the continued strong performance of UNCTAD technical cooperation. Expenditure reached a record $58.89 million in 2025. We are also encouraged that the share benefiting LDCs increased from 33 to 40 per cent, while Africa’s share rose by 47 percent from 2024 – highest level over the past decade. These are positive developments and should be sustained.

At the same time, technical cooperation must remain demand-driven and responsive to national priorities. We should also understand what requests remain unmet and whether successful interventions can be sustained and scaled up.

Second, delivery cannot be separated from resources. Voluntary funding declined by 5 per cent in 2025, while contributions from developed economies fell by 24 per cent. Developing economies now account for half of trust-fund resources, much of it through self-financing.

The Group welcomes the growing contribution of developing countries to UNCTAD technical cooperation, including through South-South cooperation. In this regard, the Group appreciates the support provided by members of the Group, including China and others, to fellow developing countries. Such cooperation is an important expression of solidarity within the Group and should continue to complement, rather than substitute for, adequate and predictable North-South development support. We therefore continue to attach importance to a broader donor base, multi-year contributions and more flexible, less-earmarked funding.

In this regard, the Group would like to reiterate the invitation to the members in the position to do so, to finance junior professional officers from developing countries to allow having a balanced geographical representation.

Third, we attach particular importance to mandates. Efficiency and prioritization of resources are legitimate management concerns. But the prioritization of mandates remains the responsibility of member States.

This distinction is especially relevant to the evaluation of Subprogramme 4. The evaluation confirms strong relevance, clear comparative advantage and growing demand, while also identifying a widening gap between demand and delivery capacity. The management response correctly recalls that mandate prioritization is under the purview of member States.

As we begin preparations for the 2028 programme plan, the Geneva Consensus should remain our starting point. Resource constraints should be identified transparently, but they should not result in the de facto narrowing of agreed mandates.

The Group looks forward to a focused discussion this week, with the objective of a strengthened UNCTAD, which is development-centred, responsive to member States, and adequately resourced to deliver.

I thank you.