Mr. Chairman,

         I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on agenda item 134, entitled Joint Inspection Unit.

2. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the newly elected Chairperson of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), Mr. Even Fontaine Ortiz. The G77 would like  to express its appreciation for his introduction of the Report of the Unit contained in document A/62/34/Add.1.

3. The Group of 77 and China highly values the work of the Joint Inspection Unit, as the sole independent, external oversight body of the United Nations system.  Over the years the Unit has presented valuable reports on UN agencies and the systemic issues that are relevant to the entire UN system.

4. We are pleased again to note the Unit's commitment to bring about necessary internal reforms in response to the relevant General Assembly resolutions. The Group of 77 & China in particular appreciates the improvements in its working methods, tools and procedures such as the harmonized report format that would make them more reader- friendly and their presentation in line with the General Assembly guidelines. We appreciate the quality in the reports and the utility of them for the work of the United Nations system.

5. The Annual Report for 2007 refers to the Unit's reports on many critical areas and we are ready to discuss some of them under the relevant agenda items. The Group of 77 & China would stress the necessity for the full implementation of the recommendations  by concerned agencies and entities.  

6. The Group of 77 & China appreciates the action taken by the Unit to strengthen its follow-up system to its recommendations, by monitoring the status of their acceptance and implementation and identification of action required by the participating organizations as stated in the report.  We would urge all participating organizations to provide the information on the status of the implementation of the recommendations as requested by the JIU.

7. The Group is pleased to note the ongoing cooperation and coordination between, the JIU, OIOS and the Board of Auditors.    We would like to stress further strengthening of this cooperation.  This is essential to avoid overlap and duplication as well as effective and efficient use of resources of the Organization.  The idea of a dialogue between all oversight bodies in the UN system is useful. We commend the JIU for promoting this interaction, as well as promoting dialogue with oversight bodies at other organizations of the United Nations system.

8. The Group has noted that in the past the Unit reported to the General Assembly on the difficulties and delays in obtaining visas for the official travel of some of the inspectors, as well as some members of its secretariat. As the Unit expresses in paragraph 63 of its annual report, there have been some improvements regarding this issue. We hope that this trend continues and that whatever difficulties still remain on the issuance of visas for the Unit inspectors and secretariat will be rectified urgently. We encourage the Unit to keep the General Assembly informed if necessary about this issue.

9. Finally, Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China wishes to commend the Joint Inspection Unit for the Programme of Work and to reiterate our support to the continued relevance of the Unit and its mandate and important role as an oversight body in the UN system.

        I thank you, Mr. Chairman.