1. Mr. President, I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. The Group thanks the UNDP and the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation for the Fourth Cooperation Framework for South-South Cooperation which is contained in document DP/CF/SSC/4/Rev.1, for consideration today. We also thank the Deputy Assistant Administrator for UNDP/BDP for his important introduction, and the Director of the Special Unit for his statement on the framework and strategy for implementation.

2. Mr. President, the Group of 77 and China wish to reiterate the statement we made at the Annual Session of this Board on 25 May this year in Geneva. South-South Cooperation is at the heart of the Group of 77 and China. Recent discussions on international cooperation for development have focused increasingly on the growing importance of South-South Cooperation and on the increase in the volume and depth of interaction among countries of the South. Within this context, the Fourth Global Cooperation Framework for South-South Cooperation becomes highly important for greater development effectiveness and achievement of Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the MDGs. The Group highlights the fact that South-South Cooperation cuts across much of the work of UNDP and the UN Development System as a whole.

3. Given the growing importance of South-South and triangular cooperation, the Group of 77 and China reaffirms that South-South Cooperation should not be a substitute or replacement for North-South Cooperation. Instead, support for South-South cooperation from the international system should be scaled-up alongside enhanced North-South cooperation, in a complimentary manner, if international development objectives are to be achieved. These same positions were repeatedly reiterated by the Group in its Doha Plan of Action adopted by the South Summit in 2005, the South Platform for Development concluded in Antigua and Barbuda in April this year, as well as in the "Yamoussoukro Consensus" adopted at the Twelfth Session of the Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination Committee on Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries (IFCC-XII), held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, from 10 to 13 June 2008.

4. In this regard, Mr. President, we thank the UNDP and the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation for the work done and progress made in advancing technical and other forms of cooperation among countries of the South.

5. Mr. President, during the Annual Session of the Board in May this year, we expressed the Group's satisfaction and appreciation to the Special Unit and to UNDP for having effectively addressed the recommendations contained in the Evaluation of UNDP's Contribution to South-South Cooperation in the draft framework. We are further pleased to note that the current framework has been further strengthened by effectively reflecting the recommendations and suggestions made by the Group and other members of the Board at that the Annual Session.    

6. The Group welcomed the results-oriented format of the Fourth Global Cooperation Framework, detailing planned outcomes, outputs and indicators, and focusing on leveraging UNDP's as well as UN system's capacities to support South-South Cooperation, triangular cooperation, as well as the mainstreaming of South-South Development approaches at the country, regional and global levels, in line with comments the Group made on this agenda item at the first and the annual sessions of the Board in January and May respectively. The emphasis on both institutional and development results, which is reflected in the Annex of the framework, will facilitate monitoring, evaluating and reporting on implementation of the framework.

7. We are very pleased that the current Framework has been guided by the 2007 TCPR; the findings and recommendations of the evaluation on UNDP's contribution to South-South Cooperation; other relevant inter-governmentally agreed decisions and resolutions of the General Assembly during the Sixty-Second Session; as well as by the revised UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-2011 and its development results and institutional results framework.

8. Mr. President we take this opportunity to thank the Special Unit and express appreciation for the leadership of its Director, in consolidating the Unit's three-in-one global and multilateral SSC support platform architecture, which it began to build during the third cooperation framework. We believe that this support architecture is going to contribute to the further expansion both of the scope and impact of South-South cooperation, including triangular and public-private partnership for effective development. With this in sight, we welcome the strategic orientation of the Framework, with its focus on advancing South-South and triangular cooperation policy development and advocacy; promoting and mobilizing Southern-grown development solutions for mutual learning; and providing mechanisms for innovation and scaling up the impact of South-South and triangular cooperation for inclusive development.

9. Mr. President looking ahead to the implementation of UNDP's strategic plan 2009-2011, we hope that UNDP will leverage the Unit's unique strengths and make full use of the Unit's global and UN-wide SSC & triangular partnership support architecture, in developing and implementing UNDP's own robust South-South support programmes and initiatives through its global programme, regional programmes as well as in country-level operations.

10. In this context, the Group of 77 and China wish to reiterate that the Special Unit's global and UN-wide coordination and focal point role in SSC and its "separate entity" status should be preserved and its capacity meaningfully strengthened to enable it to perform such a broad function.  

11. Mr. President, given the growing importance of South-South Cooperation to development, the Group of 77 and China urges donor countries and all countries in a position to do so to provide financial support to the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and to enhance the capacity of UNDP in carrying out its South-South cooperation mandate. Such support will be needed for an effective implementation of the Fourth Cooperation Framework by the Special Unit and also to allow UNDP to effectively respond to changing dynamics and challenges of international development cooperation.

12. In conclusion Mr. President, we take this opportunity to reiterate the importance we attach to South-South Cooperation in advancing inclusive development across the South and to enhancing the capacity of UNDP and the Special Unit to achieve measurable progress on implementing their mandates on South-South Cooperation at all levels, including through the Fourth Cooperation Framework.

Thank you Mr. President.