Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China would like to express its appreciation to the Government and the people of Ghana for their hospitality and to the Secretariat of the UNFCCC for all its hard work during these sessions here in Accra. The Group would also like to acknowledge the excellent Chairmanship that you and your co-chairs have provided during this session. We would also like to wish Mr. Nuno Lacasta best wishes and a speedy recovery.

Mr. Chairman, the Group fully welcomed the opportunity to further deliberate here in Accra, on the issue of possible improvements to means as agreed in the work plan of the AWG-KP. It is our hope that this work will assist in the setting of deep and ambitious quantified emission reduction commitments for Annex I Parties for the second and subsequent commitment periods by 2009.

Mr. Chairman, with regard to Agenda Item 3 (a) on Emissions trading and project based mechanisms, the Group of 77 and China appreciates that some progress has been made. However, we are concerned that many options have been introduced which are beyond the mandate of the AWG KP to address. We stress once again Mr. Chairman, that the mandate of our work is very specific as outlined in Article 3.9 and that these options need to be referred to the relevant bodies for discussion.

Mr. Chairman, the Group welcomes the advances reached here in Accra under Agenda Item 3 (b) Land use, land-use change and forestry and is aware of the great effort necessary by all to advance discussions in Poznan, with a view to achieving progress in the work plan that advances towards the definition of further commitments by Annex I Parties. The discussions here in Accra allowed the identification of potential options to address LULUCF under the Kyoto Protocol. The Group reinforced the principles that govern the treatment of LULUCF, as set out in Decision 16/CMP.1, stressing their importance to pave the way securely on how land use, land-use change and forestry is treated in the next commitment period. Regarding the Clean Development Mechanism, the Group of 77 and China agreed that afforestation and reforestation project activities should be maintained as eligible in the second commitment period, and that means to enhance their implementation should be addressed.

Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China is in support of the conclusion that there is a need to consider further scientific, technical, methodological and legal aspects of new gases identified in the AR4 under Agenda Item 3 (c) on GHGs, sectors and source categories. Of particular importance is the need to assess whether these new gases have a projected level of emission that warrants priority attention in comparison with the quantum of emissions of gases detailed in Annex A.

Mr. Chairman, with regard to Agenda Item 4 on methodological issues, the Group fully supports urgent further work by the IPCC on alternative common CO2 metrics. Given the findings of the AR4 relating to the short comings of the current Global Warming Potential metrics, the Group fully expects that the AWG will be in a position to adopt an informed decision on a common metric for the 2nd commitment period which will promote the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China was pleased with the positive discussions made under Agenda Item 5 on spillover effects. The Group looks forward to being able to develop a concrete and effective programme of work on this issue in Poznan and during 2009.

The Group of 77 and China is concerned that we have not concluded on all the issues scheduled for completion in Accra, which has resulted in us transmitting additional work to Poznan. In that context we reiterate the importance of urgently completing our negotiation of Annex I Party commitments for the second commitment period, as scheduled by the latest by 2009.

Thank You Mr. Chairman.