1. Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China I would like to extend sincere congratulations to you on your election as the Chairman of the Thirty-ninth Session of the Statistical Commission. Congratulations are extended also to the other members of the bureau, and the Group of 77 and China assures you and the entire bureau of its support as you undertake to lead the Commission in its work for this Session. We are confident in your ability to lead us to a successful outcome.

2. Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China would like to make the following intervention under Item 2 on the provisional agenda, as contained in document E/CN.3/2008/L.1.

3. Firstly, The Group attaches great importance to the follow-up and implementation of the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits, including the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the important contributions that the Commission has made in promoting the improvement of the monitoring of indicators of the MDGs, both at the global and national levels.

4. Secondly, we recognize that the work of the Commission is extremely important in helping us to advance the development agenda and to make significant progress to achieve the MDGs in a timely manner.

5. Against this backdrop, Mr. Chairman, and recalling the Statement of the Group of 77 and China delivered at the 38th Session of the Commission on 25 February 2007, the group respectfully request that the item currently listed on the Provisional Agenda as Item 4(n) on "Development Indicators" be moved to Agenda Item 3, which includes items for discussion and decision. This would allow the Commission the opportunity to discuss the very important issue of development indicators and how to further strengthen the Commission's role on promoting the monitoring of the MDGs.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.