H.E. Mr. Srgjan Kerim, President of the General Assembly;
H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations;
Honorable Ministers;
Distinguished Representatives;
Ladies and gentlemen;

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Mr. President,

1. As we surpass the midway point between the Millennium Declaration and target dates of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it is important to note that developing countries in general have made substantial progress in achieving critical development targets. Yet, much work remains to be done if the development goals and their corresponding targets, as envisaged by the declaration of world leaders in 2000, are to be met by 2015.

Mr. President,

2. Much of this lagging behind in the expected progress towards the MDGs is the result of insufficient resources to tackle emerging as well as longstanding challenges to development. At the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey in 2002, leaders from both developed and developing countries started to match development commitments with resources and action, generating a global agreement in which sustained reform by developing countries would be matched by direct support from the developed world in the form of aid, trade, debt relief and investment. This reinforced, and served as a reminder of, the shared responsibility of developed and developing countries in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

3. Understanding our share of responsibility in achieving the MDGs, the Group of 77 and China acknowledges that a lot has been done to create enabling domestic environments for the achievement of MDGs, and efforts are on the way to make even greater progress. Yet we are being held back by a woeful failure to meet commitments.

Mr. President,

4. Despite the progress made by developing countries, commitments to increase the provision of resources have not been fulfilled. There is a commitment to collaborate on international resource mobilization, but the international financial environment is still not transparent, stable or predictable.

- There is a commitment to collaborate on trade, but despite improvements in the agricultural sector of developing countries, agricultural subsidies in developed countries still persist;

- There is a commitment to collaborate on increasing the coherence and sustainability of international systems, but the development efforts from the BWIs, WTO and other international financial institutions remain disconcerted and incoherent;

- There is a commitment to collaborate on financial and technical cooperation, but official development assistance (ODA) levels, as a percent of Gross National Product (GNP), have decreased despite improved absorptive capacities in developing countries.

Mr. President,

5. The Group wishes to place a special emphasis on Official Development Assistance to developing countries as indispensable in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Despite promises of an additional $50 billion in ODA, declining numbers in 2007 along with heavy reliance on debt cancellation, which is funded with and detracts from ODA resources, are of serious concern. The forthcoming review of the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development, to be held in Doha this year, will provide a valuable opportunity to evolve agreement on a comprehensive and effective approach to meet the resource requirements for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

6. Furthermore, if global poverty is to fall to levels required to reach the MDGs by 2015, global GDP growth must remain at, or exceed, current annual levels of 3.5%. In addition, to ensure that all developing countries make progress, global economic growth must reach the poorest.  However, a global economic slowdown that originated in the developed world forecasts a possible recession, falling commodity prices and fluctuations in the international financial markets that threaten to stagnate growth and further marginalize the poorest. Thus, it is also critical for international financial institutions to increase efforts to establish adequate financial strategies for developing countries that are vulnerable to economic crises, particularly the countries in Africa, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). This can prevent a reversal of progress towards the MDGs caused by global instability.

Mr. President,

7. The task of achieving the MDGs by 2015 is a shared responsibility among all stakeholders. The Group of 77 and China continues to call for concrete focus on the lack of progress on MDG 8 - Global Partnership for Development.

8. So far, developing country policies and practices have been systematically scrutinized while the shortcomings in the commitments of developed countries have been weakly, if at all, emphasized, and rarely quantified. Moreover, we are concerned at ongoing efforts to alter the MDG monitoring framework mid-way to 2015, more so as the proposed changes only cover MDGs 1 to 7. For the world to have any chance in transforming the current status quo of human underdevelopment, the monitoring framework must be consistent throughout the entire initiative and the burden of scrutiny must apply to all stakeholders.  Therefore, we highlight the need to generate an intergovernmental agreement to develop a monitoring mechanism to track and promote implementation of goals and commitments by all stakeholders; and we call for greater consistency in effectively monitoring the implementation of the Internationally-agreed Development Goals, including the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs).

9. Developed countries must be evaluated not only in their implementation of the   Monterrey Consensus as the mechanism that ensures the resources necessary to achieve the goals, but also in the progress made on MDG 8, which unfortunately, holds no clear benchmarks to monitor its implementation. Therefore, the Group calls on the UN and its relevant bodies to contribute to the elaboration of a comprehensive matrix of the commitments made under MDG 8 and specific benchmarks to facilitate monitoring of its implementation.

Mr. President,

10. Making MDG 8 work for the most vulnerable countries, and particularly for countries in Africa, is a priority concern of the Group. There seems to be no coordinated thinking or work on addressing how the potential of MDG 8 can be systematically harnessed, tracked or monitored to support development in general, and in Africa in particular. Therefore, convinced that the High Level Session on Africa's Development Needs "will constitute a significant event that will review the implementation of all commitments made to and by Africa in order to comprehensively address the special development needs of the continent", the Group commends the holding of this important session to take place in September of this year, prior to the debate of the General Assembly's 63rd Session.

11. In conclusion, Mr. President, monitoring progress on the MDGs without concrete and comprehensive progress on commitments, without consistent monitoring throughout the entire initiative and without clear benchmarks for MDG 8 is denying the essential shared responsibility among all stakeholders for the achievement of the goals. The Group hopes that out of this discussion in the UN General Assembly will come renewed and invigorated efforts to close the implementation gap left by unfulfilled commitments.

Thank you Mr. President.